Blind Submission, Debra Ginsberg, Shaye Areheart Books, 2006, 328 pp
I read this in one day; I'd been planning to read it since I first heard of it last year because it is set in the world of publishing. In fact, it is the Nanny Diaries and the Devil Wears Prada of the publishing industry. Plus, who knew? It is a mystery though there are no murders or even bloodshed.
Though a definite chick lit aura abounds and the writing is a tad not that good, the story telling rocks and I was completely seduced. Angel Robinson was raised by a hippie mom, moving from commune to commune in her youth. She ends up working in an independent bookstore in Marin County where she meets a handsome aspiring writer. They fall in love and in a covert self-serving gesture, he convinces her to apply for the job of admin assistant to a hot literary agent when the bookstore closes.
Angel gets the job, figures out quickly what sort of psychopath the agent is, but is drawn into the work because she loves writers and is good at spotting potential and at editing. When an anonymous "blind submission" comes in, Angel gets caught up in the mystery of who is this author? Her boyfriend? An annoying pestering wannabe? And as the novel comes in chapter by chapter, it bears a creepy similarity to Angel's life.
Great stuff. Clever really. All is solved with a happy ending. Despite the writing, Ginsberg obviously knows books, literature and the business. Who could ask for more really?
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