Phillips followed with a (1984) first novel, "Machine Dreams", “a remarkable novelistic debut and an enduring literary achievement.” (The New York Times),'|Machine Dreams]]” is a chronicle of the Hampson family from World War II to the Vietnam War. A National Book Critic's Circle Award Finalist in Fiction, was one of 12 Best Books of the Year cited by the New York Times. It made several Bestseller lists and was optioned as a film by actor Jessica Lange, who wrote the screenplay. Nobel Prize winner Nadine Gordimer said of Machine Dreams: “Reaches one’s deepest emotions. No number of books read or films seen can deaden one to the intimate act of art by which this wonderful young writer has penetrated the definitive experience of her generation.”