In 'Innocents and Others' Dana Spiotta explores the creative tensions between two female filmmakers

"I was always happy to reach an inward operator." So says Jelly, a.k.a. Nicole, one of the principal characters in Dana Spiotta's enigmatic new novel. Jelly was once a member of the "Phone Phreaks" — proto-hackers who beeped and chirped their way through the massive Bell Telephone system just for...