A House Among the Trees by Julia Glass

One often thinks of the authors of books for children as the gentle characters that appear in their books.  This is children's literature as a political event.  Author Mort Lear dies and much to everyones surprise leaves his considerable estate to his assistant Tomasina Daulair known as Tommy.  It turns out that there is a history between Lear and Tommy that has nothing to do with personal connections but much to do with the reason for Lear's success.  There is no wife or children to inherit but there are many people in the literary world who were hoping to benefit from his "generosity".  While attempting to sort it all out, the grown-ups are often caught acting as naughty children all of which makes for an odd book from this National Book Award Winner.