“Wow,” I said. “And I thought I suffered from imposter syndrome.”
“He brings new meaning to the phrase ‘Fake it ’til you make it,’ ” Larry said drily. “I bet he’s not even British.”
Rick had eventually resurfaced in Brooklyn and was shopping around a new book, a memoir of redemption called All for Love. A reporter had located the original proposal and uncovered more instances of plagiarism—including, I realized with a shock of recognition, a passage taken from my own book. I’d written, “Charlotte Brontë took solace in the written word, channeling her unrequited affections into her literary masterwork, Jane Eyre.” In his proposal, Rick had written, “I took solace in the written word, channeling my unrequited affections into this literary memoir of love, loss, and second chances.” I tried not to gag out loud. A little while later, I heard Rick had sold his proposed memoir for a reported six-figure advance.
My own book was already in press when I remembered, with horror, that I’d thanked Rick in the acknowledgments. In a panic, I called up my editor, Ursula Burton. We’d never met and only corresponded by e-mail, so when I first heard her clipped English accent on the line, I quailed. She told me it was “far too late” to edit the acknowledgments and that “any change at this point would cost the press a pretty penny.”
“Listen,” I blurted out. “I know you’re friends with Rick Chasen, but we had a really messy breakup and it’s a long story, but I’ll pay for any changes—”
“What are you talking about?” Ursula said. “Who is Rick Chasen?”
“Richard Forbes Chasen? The novelist? He told me you were good friends from university.”
“The plagiarist? I’ve never met the man before in my life.”
“I thought— He told me— Didn’t he tell you to publish my book?”
“My goodness, no. How absurd! I make my own editorial decisions.” She paused for a moment and said, “Richard Forbes Chasen, you say? Well, we can’t have someone like that receive more undeserved credit, can we?”
She immediately cut his name from the book. Snip-snip. I felt a flood of relief that I owed Rick nothing—that this accomplishment was mine alone.
Months later, I was letting myself into the President’s House when Adam called down from upstairs. “A box came for you,” he said. “I brought it into the library.”
I found a heavy cardboard box sitting on one of the tables, “OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS” printed on both sides.
“Adam!” I called. “Come down!”
I began to slice through the tape with anticipation. Adam came in and stood a little behind me, resting a hand lightly on my hip. “I think it’s from my editor,” I said, pulling the box open. “They’re my author copies.”
There was a handwritten note inside.
Welcome to the ranks of women writers. —Ursula.
I pulled a hardcover volume from the box. The book jacket showed a nineteenth-century woman’s profile in silhouette, set like a cameo into an oval frame. The title Ivory Tower: Nineteenth-Century Women Writers and the Literary Imagination ran along the top of the frame, and below was my name, Anne Corey.
I touched the cover silently, running my fingers over my name and blinking back tears.
“You did it,” Adam said, reaching over to squeeze my hand.
“Open it,” I said, handing the book to him. Adam looked at me quizzically, then took the book from me. He studied the cover for a moment, then let the book fall open to its dedication page.
“To Adam Martinez,” it read. “Besos.”
“How did you—?” he said, looking incredulously at his name on the page.
“Ursula let me add a dedication at the last minute,” I said.
Adam looked overcome. He let the book close and pulled me in for a kiss. Then he placed my book on a shelf in our dream library.
acknowledgments
This novel is a love letter to books, but it is also a love letter to book lovers. The biggest one I know is Lisa Sternlieb, who always said “you don’t want to be like me” and whose advice I continue, happily, to ignore. Lisa—thank you for your unabashed love of literature and for being a model of integrity and authenticity in an imperfect profession. I also want to thank Chris Corey, who read countless drafts of this novel and refused to let me quit, even when I wanted to slap this thing on Amazon for 99 cents. I want to thank my high school friends—Lizzy Castruccio, Lydia Cho, Riva Kim, Sharon Gi, Tarry Payton, and Janna Conner—who knew me when I was at my most bookish and idealistic. In college, I found friends like Miki Terasawa, Sandhya Gupta, and Maria Wich-Vila, models of empathy and grace. All of you have inspired elements of this book.
English professors are “my people,” and I want to thank Jane Hafen, Laura Murphy, Anne Stevens, Megan Becker, Maile Chapman, Kelly Mays, Denise Tillery, Jessica Teague, Emily Setina, and Miriam Melton-Villanueva for talking books (including romance novels!) with me. I am embarrassed at the thought of Deborah Nord or Maria DiBattista reading this book, but I want them to know that I love and admire them deeply and that Dr. Russell is definitely not based on them! I also want to thank all my students, past and present, for making me laugh and sometimes cry. My love goes to my parents, David and Sonia Lee, who cultivated my love of reading and writing, and to my in-laws, Bonnie and Rob Sonneborn, avid readers and lenders of books. I want to thank my husband, Brad Sonneborn, who kept asking if this book was about him (of course!) and my kids, Lucy and Bobby, whose favorite thing to do is to pore over the Scholastic book catalogue.
Finally, I want to thank those who helped usher my book into the world. My agent, Jennifer Johnson-Blalock, picked this book out of the slush pile and heroically helped me fix the pacing and plot. Not only did she give me a crash MFA, she showed me that the querying and publishing process could be humane. My editor at Gallery Books, Kate Dresser, “got” this book from the beginning, and I thank her and her assistant, Molly Gregory, for being such wonderful stewards of this work. Thanks as well to Mary Beth Constant, whose copyediting skills and sense of humor are A+. I am proud to have worked with such smart, funny women.
GALLERY READERS GROUP GUIDE
* * *
BY THE BOOK
a novel
JULIA SONNEBORN
THIS GALLERY READERS GROUP Guide for By the Book includes an introduction, discussion questions, and ideas for enhancing your book club. The suggested questions are intended to help your reading group find new and interesting angles and topics for discussion. We hope that these ideas will enrich your conversation and increase your enjoyment of the book.
Introduction
ANNE COREY, AN ENGLISH professor in California, is determined to achieve the coveted tenure track at her liberal arts college, Fairfax. But she’s having trouble securing the book deal she needs signed before her contract is up. Then Adam Martinez—her ex-fiancé from her days at Princeton—shows up as Fairfax’s new president.
Anne keeps herself distracted with her book, her aging father, and a romance developing with Fairfax’s new writer-in-residence. But as the school year advances, Anne finds herself further entangled with Adam and other old friends from her college years. She is constantly questioning the choices she’s made since her broken engagement. She’s always done what’s best for her career, but is this a second chance at love? This is a modern ode to Jane Austen’s classic Persuasion, and the idea that the demons of our past may not turn out not to be so bad, after all.
Topics & Questions for Discussion
1. The first man Anne introduces us to is Larry, who provides much of the comic relief in this novel. What else does he provide for Anne? How do his relationships connect her with other people? She doesn’t think the acknowledgment to him in her book captures their relationship. Do you agree?
2. Dr. Russell forces Anne to evaluate her post-grad options. She bluntly states, “When I think of the advantages women of your generation have had . . . I don’t understand why you would throw all of it away.” What hardships did w
omen Dr. Russell’s age face when trying to have a professional career? What problems have women of later generations faced? Has having had more options led to greater happiness?
3. Because Adam agrees with Dr. Russell (that Anne should go to Yale), Anne has a moment where she believes “I could have a fulfilling professional life and a fulfilling personal life. I could have it all.” Why doesn’t it turn out that way? How much responsibility lies with Adam? With Anne? What family and social pressures were they each dealing with?
4. Anne feels her father treated Adam poorly and looked down upon her decision to acquire a PhD and so much student debt. But by his funeral she chooses to read Robert Hayden’s poem “Those Winter Sundays.” Why do you think Anne chose this poem? How has her view of her father changed over the course of his illness?
5. At the beginning of the book Anne feels that her sister, Lauren, also looks down upon her lack of financial security. As their father grows ill and dies, does the dynamic of the sisters’ relationship change? Why do you think sisters have such a natural inclination to compare and compete with each other?
6. Anne reconnects with Bex at Lauren’s book club. That night Anne tells her she could have been a great professor. While she means it as a compliment, she realizes Bex thinks she’s judging her for deferring to her husband’s career. Why do women do this to themselves? And why are there some women who would judge Bex? Is there any way to have it all?
7. Anne’s book is an academic novel, but even her publisher notes it ties in with the current popularity of authors like Jane Austen and the Brontë sisters. Why do you think their novels have had such staying power?
8. Anne tries to teach her students that nineteenth-century novels about marriage “weren’t about love. They were about money, and power, and imperialism, and real estate.” While this makes a strong academic argument, do you think Anne truly believes it? Why is her favorite novel still Persuasion?
9. Anne has never read Rick’s books, so at first, she doesn’t believe the accusations of plagiarism. Then she stays with him because she’s worried for his mental health. But after she speaks to Emily, she cuts off all communication with Rick, going so far as to get a restraining order. What did you think of Anne’s relationship with Rick prior to the plagiarism scandal? How do you feel about how Anne handled the end of their relationship? How did it compare to her break-up with Adam?
10. Anne sees Emily as the “younger, better, more hopeful version of myself,” and feels terrible for introducing her to Rick. Should Anne feel so guilty? Is there any way for a college-aged woman to see relationships in the same light as a thirtysomething woman?
11. The author uses the barrage of email Anne receives to give us insight into both Anne’s professional and personal life. Did you enjoy the switch from Anne’s direct narration? What significance does it take on given that Anne studies authors to whom letter writing was so important?
12. At graduation, Larry and Anne discuss how men handle break-ups versus women. Anne admits that the way she handles them is for self-preservation. Why was it so important that she admit this to herself? That she say it aloud?
13. Adam’s letter to Anne is a direct reference to Persuasion. But his two proposals to Anne are unique to this book. How to they compare to each other? Did you enjoy the first, second, or both?
14. Consider how female writers have been read and received compared to male writers. This is something that has historic resonance—Jane Austen published her books anonymously, and Charlotte Brontë and Mary Ann Evans both wrote under male pen names. How are women writers judged differently from male writers, even today? Rick is a prominent and lauded contemporary writer, but he dismisses Jane Vampire as cheesy romantic schlock and calls Jane Austen’s books “chick lit.” Yet, women have always been—and still are—a huge part of the reading public, as evidenced by the women who take Anne’s English lit classes, who participate in Bex’s book club, and who pack the theaters for the Jane Vampire adaptation. How does this help us better understand women writers and readers—and women’s fiction?
Enhance Your Book Club
1. By the Book is based on Jane Austen’s novel Persuasion. While not Austen’s most well-known work, it is a fun read if your group wants to directly compare and contrast the two novels. Make it a proper British evening with tea, scones, finger sandwiches, and “biscuits,” as the English like to call cookies. Some interesting points of comparison are how and why Sonneborn updated the Musgrove family from Persuasion into several different characters for By the Book. And who is worse—Mr. Elliot or Rick—may lead to some very personal takes on exes!
2. Jack is starring in the film Jane Vampire, a nod to the current trend of taking classic literature into the zombie and vampire genres. Even without these genre-specific reboots, modern adaptations are tremendously popular. Clueless was a high school take on Emma. Bride and Prejudice is a Bollywood take on Pride and Prejudice, while Bridget Jones’s Diary is a modern British update of the same story. Austenland imagines a modern-day Jane Austen, while Becoming Jane is a loose biopic of the author. How many members in your group have seen these film adaptations? Is there a favorite you would like to watch together?
3. The night of the gala Larry recites “The Wild Swans at Coole,” which is available to read at:
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43288/the-wild-swans-at-coole.
Read the poem and discuss how its themes tie into the themes of this novel. That night, Larry tells Anne “Your heart’s grown old . . . So has mine.” Is that true? What kind of emotional growth does each character experience from the gala to graduation?
4. Anne says the hardest part of her book to write was the acknowledgements. If you had the opportunity to thank the people in your life, who would you choose and why? Have your group try writing your own book club acknowledgments!
About the Author
LAUREN HURT
JULIA SONNEBORN is an English professor and a native Angeleno. After heading east for college and graduate school, she hightailed it back to California, where she now lives with her husband, two kids, two cats, and a dog. When she’s not reading, writing, or talking about books, she enjoys trying new restaurants, reading gossip blogs, and throwing dinner parties.
FOR MORE ON THIS AUTHOR:
Authors.SimonandSchuster.com/Julia-Sonneborn
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Gallery Books
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This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2018 by Julia Sonneborn
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information, address Gallery Books Subsidiary Rights Department, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020.
First Gallery Books trade paperback edition February 2018
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Interior design by Bryden Spevak
Cover design by Laywan Kwan
Cover photograph by whitemay/Getty Images; window with books by Pekka Liukkonen/Alamy Stock Photo; stacked books © Shutterstock
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Sonneborn, Julia, author.
Title: By the book / Julia Sonneborn.
Description: First Gallery Books trade paperback edition. | New York : Gallery Books, 2018.
Identifiers: LCCN 2017013623| ISBN 9781501175183 (softcover) | ISBN 9781501175190 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Women college teachers—Fiction. | First loves—Fiction. |
BISAC: FICTION / Contemporary Women. | FICTION / Romance / Contemporary. |FICTION / General. | GSAFD: Love stories.
Classification: LCC PS3619.O535 B9 2018 | DDC 813/.6—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017013623
ISBN 978-1-5011-7518-3
ISBN 978-1-5011-7519-0 (ebook)
By the Book Page 27