Product Description

Books can be a dangerous business . . .

Angel Robinson loves books, loves reading, loves anything to do with the written word. But when Blue Moon Books, the Bay Area bookstore where she has worked since college, is squeezed out of business, Angel is forced to find a new job. She lucks into a position as the assistant to the world-renowned literary agent Lucy Fiamma.

Angel soon learns that working for Lucy is no picnic. The agent has a blockbuster ego to match her blockbuster success and Angel must juggle both her boss’s prima donna demands and the strange quirks of her authors. But Angel soon becomes indispensible to the agency and develops a keen understanding of big projects and the writers who create them.

What she doesn’t realize is just how far one of them will go to get published.

One day, a chapter from a mysterious manuscript by an anonymous author arrives at the office. Set in a New York literary agency, the novel, titled Blind Submission, centers on the ambitious assistant to a successful literary agent. Angel is pulled in by the plot—but her initial curiosity soon turns to panic. As the story unfolds—with chapters e-mailed in one by one—it becomes clear that the mystery author is writing the story of Angel’s own life, including secrets she thought were deeply hidden. Someone is watching her, even plotting against her. Could it be her backstabbing coworker, her jealous boyfriend, or her seductive new client?

When the novel’s plot turns to murder, Angel knows that if she doesn’t discover the author’s identity before the final chapter is written, more than just her career will be cut short.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #867836 in Books
• Published on: 2006-11-07
• Released on: 2006-11-07
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 336 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780307346049
• Condition: USED - VERY GOOD
• Notes:
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

From Publishers Weekly
Memoirist Ginsberg (Waiting; Raising Blaze) gracefully transitions into fiction with a fresh twist on the aggrieved publishing assistant. Angel Robinson is a voracious reader excited to land a job at the prestigious Lucy Fiamma Literary Agency in San Francisco, but she quickly finds herself overwhelmed in the maelstrom of an office. Angel, forever lugging manuscripts home, discovers she has a knack for turning mediocre manuscripts into moneymakers, a talent Lucy handsomely capitalizes on. When an anonymous submission set in a Bay Area literary agency is e-mailed in, Angel begins hammering it into salable shape. At first, the parallels between the manuscript and her life are innocuous enough, but as subsequent chapters appear in her inbox and she corresponds via e-mail with the author (coyly called "G. A. Novelist"), the story begins to reveal intimate details about Angel's life and to contain thinly veiled threats. Could her foundering writer boyfriend be the culprit? A jealous co-worker? Another of Lucy's clients? A game of e-mail cat and mouse unfolds as Angel continues working on the manuscript and her dragon-lady boss angles to sell it. Though not nail-bitingly suspenseful, the plot is twisty enough to keep readers guessing to the end. (Nov.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
*Starred Review* Ginsberg has delighted readers with her candor and humor in three popular memoirs, including Raising Blaze (2002). She now brings her wit and pinpoint psychology to fiction in a gleefully caustic tale that is not so much a whodunit as a who-wrote-it. Ginsberg's heat-seeking novel tracks the high-anxiety misadventures of Angel Montgomery, a book lover who becomes a badgered assistant to an extravagantly cruel, histrionic, and elaborately attired literary agent, Lucy Fiamamma. Yes, this is the book-world version of The Devil Wears Prada (2003), albeit more artful. Blind submissions are manuscripts sent in cold to the agency, while Lucy's staff practices a stunned compliance one might describe as blind submission. Angel is learning to hold steady under Lucy's onslaughts, but she is growing alarmed over the creepy parallels between her life and Blind Submission, an anonymously authored mystery set in a literary agency and sent to her in e-mailed installments. Is the author her wannabe writer boyfriend? Her angry, possibly deranged coworker? An affectionate skewering of the ludicrous side of the book business and a claws-out send-up of the perversities of power, Ginsberg's blithe blend of mystery, romance, and satire is smart, classy, and fun. Donna Seaman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review
“Wicked fun and suspense from a talented new writer with an original, clever voice.”
—Lisa Scottoline

“If you’ve ever considered a career in publishing, read Blind Submission, a ‘boss from hell’ story that’s as funny as it is frightening. It will make you love your job.”
—Harley Jane Kozak, author of Dating Dead Men and Dating Is Murder

“A wonderful read from start to finish. Ginsberg’s writing is clever and seductive as she spins this tale of psychological peril and illumination.”
—T. Jefferson Parker, author of The Fallen

“Ginsberg brings a fresh voice to her offbeat fiction debut, a novel about novels and the novelists who write them. It’s a taut, fun, complex tale that will keep you guessing till the last page.”
—Patricia Gaffney, author of The Saving Graces

"Juicy...A combination of 'bite the boss with 'bit the assistant'' fiction."
– Kirkus




From the Hardcover edition.

Customer Reviews

Mislabeled as a "Mystery"
This novel shared my nightstand with two well-reviewed novels, namely Laura Lippman's What the Dead Know and The Sister by Poppy Adams. I read the first 30-ish pages of all three books, and then figured I'd continue with the one that hooked my interest.

That'd be "Blind Submission."

This book has mistakenly been labeled a mystery. Not so; our protagonist works at a highly successful literary agency where every unsolicited submission is read carefully by two people. These two prepare and compare notes on these manuscripts before passing judgment. Further, this agency made and continues to make its fortune by carefully culling the ideas sent in by beginning writers.

So clearly "Blind Submission" is science fiction!

Issues of believability aside, Debra Ginsberg has concocted a very entertaining tale. I especially enjoyed the invented snippets of novels and memoirs that came in the agency's slush pile. I hate to call this book an "entertaining lark," but there it is. Nice work, and I look forward to Ginsberg's next book, The Grift.

Sidelight: As most of this novel takes place inside the agency's offices, halfway through it, I was starting to feel the story was a bit confined and stifling. At that moment I came across the line, "It occurs to me that my novel might be...a little claustrophobic." Eerie!

Not One Good Character
Angel is an avid reader, working in a bookstore that is going out of business. Her boyfriend, an aspiring novelist, encourages her to apply for a job at a small but prestigious publishing company.

Right from the beginning when Angel gets the job, there is a strange vibe in the office. The boss is absolutely horrible, terrorizing her employees, rewriting history and reality to suit herself.

Angel immediately stands out as a star in the office, working well with authors, rescuing promising manuscripts from the trash and even seeming to earn a bit of respect from her dictator boss.

Because of the stress level of her job, though, Angel's relationship with her boyfriend suffers. She is unhappy and withdrawn, and feels she might be going crazy when an anonymous manuscript seems to be telling the story of her life.

The concept of this book is promising, but I found it disappointing. The characters are one-dimensional and I thought it was glaringly obvious who the anonymous author was. The nastiness of Angel's boss was terribly cliche and the book's romance seemed far too convenient.

Devil Wears Prada Redo
The writing is good - that much cannot be denied. But, the plot is identical to that of The Devil Wears Prada. The only difference? This is set in a publishing company and not a fashion company. A unique plot would have made the book stronger.