Is Taylor Swift entering her spy novelist era?
Probably not. But, Polygon reports, some TikTok users are convinced that the singer-songwriter is actually the author of Argylle, a novel being published in January by Bantam. The book, credited to an author named Elly Conway, follows a CIA spymaster who enlists the titular character, a troubled spy, to take on a power-hungry Russian magnate.
The novel forms the basis for an upcoming film of the same name, directed by Matthew Vaughn and starring Henry Cavill, Samuel L. Jackson, John Cena, and Bryce Dallas Howard as a character also named Elly Conway.
TikTok users who are convinced that the world’s most omnipresent pop star wrote the novel before embarking on her latest tour and becoming the sweetheart of the NFL focus in part on a cat that shows up in a trailer for the movie. Howard, as Conway, carries her Scottish fold cat in a backpack; Swift has done the same with her own two Scottish folds, Olivia Benson and Meredith Grey.
Among other “evidence” that Swift is behind the book, TikTok users say, is that Swift has worn argyle sweaters in the past and that Conway’s first social media post was on Dec. 13, 2022, Swift’s 33rd birthday.
This isn’t the first time that a subset of Swifties has speculated that their idol is behind a book. Earlier this year, TikTok users were convinced that a memoir by Swift would be published by Flatiron; the mystery book in question ended up being by the South Korean boy band BTS.
Speculation about Conway’s identity seems bound to continue, as the author’s biography on the Penguin Random House website only says that she “lives somewhere in the United States.” Wait…do you know who else lives somewhere in the United States? Hmmm…
Michael Schaub is a contributing writer.
