The book of illusions (Paul Auster)

Six months after losing his wife and two sons in a plane crash, Professor David Zimmer spends his waking hours mired in grief. Then, watching television one night, he stumbles upon the great silent comedian Hector Mann.
His growing obsession with the mystery of Mann's true life story will take Zimmer on a strange and intense journey into a shadow-world of lies, illusions and unexpected love…