1996.

1996 by Gloria Naylor Third World Press, July 2005 $19.95, ISBN 0-883-78263-4

This "fictionalized memoir"/novel offers an account of a writer's minor fracas with a crotchety neighbor on St. Helena Island, off South Carolina's coast (whose brother just happens to be an official with the National Security Agency) that set into motion events that make Gloria Naylor, the self-named character, the object of intense scrutiny by the government and local Jewish organizations. The novel depicts the harassment as continuing after she returned to New York, escalating into mind-control techniques.

In a recent interview, she said, "I know some people will say that Gloria Naylor just lost it in 1996. There's nothing I can do about that assumption. But people who have been victims will read this as a true story."

--Reviewed by Vanessa Bush