House of Destiny

Hard on the heels of her memoir, Psycho: Behind the Scenes, comes actress Leigh's first novel; and, while she will never win any prizes for style (her prose veers between functional and bathetic), the book is a conscientious attempt to record the history of a film colony in the lives of two unlikely friends. In 1936, Sun Valley, Idaho, becomes the winter playground for socialites and Hollywood's leading stars. Local bad boy Jude Abavas joins the staff at the ski resort, and soon the ambitious sheepherder becomes indispensable to management and guests. He is befriended by Wade Colby, real-estate heir and Hollywood's newest screen idol. After the tragic death of his wife and son, Jude leaves Sun Valley for L.A., where Wade hires him as his personal assistant. So begins a 20-year partnership that endures as Wade achieves superstardom and Jude becomes a major producer. A mini-history of the resort and of the film community flashes by as the pair survive the McCarthy years, branch out into TV and fall in love with the same woman. Leigh weaves fact and fiction bravely, though her apparent desire to mention nearly every person relevant to her two settings --and every significant national and international event from 1915 to 1990--results in veritable lists of names flashed on the page but never to be seen again. She also relies on frequent tragedies to provide incident, and her characterization is superficial at best. But readers drawn to the book by curiosity may find themselves engrossed in Hollywood lore. Author tour. (Oct.)