In Ellen Pall's absorbing novel Must Read Well, a trip down memory lane proves to be both emotional and treacherous.

At Columbia, Elizabeth struggles to write her dissertation on famous feminist writers. She's coming up short on information about landmark novelist Anne Weil, who now lives in seclusion in Greenwich Village and refuses to answer her inquiries. When Anne places an ad for a cheap live-in tenant who will also read to her, Elizabeth jumps at the opportunity. She poses as an innocent renter, plotting to gain access to Anne's private journals and complete her research. But as Elizabeth reads the journals to Anne at her request, a buried tragedy comes to light, and an unusual bond forms between the two women.

Elizabeth narrates, and there are subtle, effective shifts in her tone as her original plan gives way to doubts, sympathy, and plain curiosity. Much of the book is also devoted to Anne's recollections of the 1960s, especially an illicit affair that's described in terms of frank sexuality and emotional tumult. In the process, parallels are drawn between Elizabeth and Anne: both are betrayers and betrayed, and they are similar in their intelligence and their passion for their work. If they have any hope of redemption, both must accept a measure of responsibility for their actions. They are flawed, but their humanity is centered.

Though the novel revolves on obsession, it also includes dark humor via Anne's sardonic personality and Elizabeth's mounting desperation. It builds toward a late twist and a resonant conclusion that indicates that people are more than the sum of their experiences. Must Read Well is an incisive novel about reckoning with the past.

Elizabeth Miller, the 24-year-old Ph.D. candidate who narrates this subtle psychological thriller from Pall (Among the Ginzburgs), lacks one crucial interview for her dissertation about female novelists who have advanced the cause of women. Unfortunately, ill 89-year-old Anne Taussig Weil, whose 1965 blockbuster became a linchpin for feminists, has refused all interview requests. Elizabeth sees enough clues in an anonymous Craigslist ad seeking a "quiet female" to "read aloud to purblind landlady. . . . Must read well" to know it is Anne. The job comes with a private room and bathroom for $160 a month in Anne's Greenwich Village apartment, but also a nondisclosure agreement. Anne wants Elizabeth to read from her many journals that are locked away, but only the passages detailing a passionate extramarital affair she had with a world-famous pianist. As Anne wrestles with her secrets, Elizabeth becomes judgmental of the author's past while trying to figure out how to sneak out those journals. The emotional reading sessions skillfully reveal both women's personalities. This story of ambition, love, generational differences, and the power of words will resonate with many. (Sept.)