READ BETWEEN THE LIES
by Jesse Q. Sutanto
A soon-to-be-published debut novelist learns that she hasn’t escaped her childhood nemesis, whose first book is also scheduled for publishing year 2020.
The cruelty of mean girl Haven Lee to bottom-feeder Fern Huang during their shared school days in Southern California has had far-reaching effects, and not only because it somehow mysteriously led to the death of a third girl, Fern’s best friend, Danielle Wilder. The refuge the brutally bullied Fern found in reading and writing has led to four novels in the drawer so far, with a fifth manuscript having finally found an agent and then, after more than six months on submission…a publisher! This is Sutanto’s second comedy with thriller elements set in the world of writers and publishing—following I’m Not Done With You Yet (2023), and many books of other genres—and as it opens, her unreliable and somewhat unlovable narrator is slaving away as an assistant to a draconian prewedding photographer to support her so-far unfruitful literary attempts. Fern experiences the happiest moments of her life on the day she can post news of her deal on social media and request admission to the Facebook group for 2020 debut novelists. The joy she finds in belonging to this welcoming, supportive group of women writers is replaced by a rat’s nest of darker emotions when she sees that Haven Lee will also be joining—with a bigger deal than anyone else, and a better book as well. The hostilities disguised as pleasantries begin immediately. As the clammy grip of the pandemic tightens around the publishing industry, the writers’ Slack channel burgeons with #commiserations and behind-the-scenes intrigue. Scandal, petty crime, cancellation, and warring sourdough starters named Doughlores and Breadley Cooper will all have their day. The emotional resonance of this book is limited by the fact that it revolves around Fern’s arrested-development fixation on a single issue—why doesn’t anyone like me?—and the answer is pretty obvious.
Turns out, the world of debut novelists is exactly like middle school.