The Body of Jonah Boyd is a novel by David Leavitt, published in 2004, that depicts various consequences of the theft of a manuscript.
It tells a story about the life of a common American family dealing with ethical principles, relationships and fairness (and unfairness) today.
While the novel is set in the fictional town (and university) of Wellspring, Leavitt dedicates the book to the Stanford, California, house he grew up in, 743 Cooksey Lane.
She asks Ben Wright, the youngest son and amateur poet who was also present when Anne found the books again, to hide the novel until she would tell him to "surprisingly find" it.
Jonah, who used to drink, again finds consolation in alcohol, which ultimately leads to his death through a car accident.
Irrespective of his role as husband and father, he is having a secret affair with his secretary Judith "Denny" Denham.
She actually does not look for a real friend, but someone whom she can "cultivate and nurture", as if Denny like Daphne was Nancy's daughter and not equal in age.
Anne takes advantage of the situation and intrigues with Ben to steal Boyd's notebooks in order to teach her husband a lesson.
Jonah Boyd: He is a celebrated author and a special guest at the Wrights' Thanksgiving dinner in 1969 where he "loses" his notebooks with his almost finished novel.
Anne coldly informs the readership that she does acknowledge her crime, however, she does not want to spend the rest of her life doing penance for it.
The ambiguous title sets the reader on a wrong track until it is fully explained at the end of the story.
With the episode of the theft of Boyd's manuscript, Leavitt wants to defend himself once again and claim his honesty against Spender's charges, who accused him, arguing that While England Sleeps, Leavitt's novel about literary London in the 1930s, used substantial inattributed material from Spender's autobiography "World Within World".
Normally being a feature of most crime stories, this novel withholds important information for a long time to build up suspense.