Eleven

Told entirely in e-mails sent and received by Martin Davies, would-be author and frustrated corporate accountant, this debut novel is set on September 11, 2001, in Cardiff, Wales. In denial about his breakup with his girlfriend and baffled by the triviality of his life, Martin gossips online at his desk and makes plans for the weekend until—just after his crowd of young professionals returns from lunch—people start flying airliners into office buildings in New York City. Very funny and then brutally sad, Martin's messages by the time the day is over have run the gamut from nonsense straight out of The Office to something closer to a play by Samuel Beckett.