Muse

Paul Dukach is heir apparent at Purcell & Stern, one of the last independent publishing houses in New York, whose shabby offices on Union Square belie the treasures of its list. Thanks to his boss, the flamboyant Homer Stern, Paul learns the ins and outs of the book world.

But though things are shaky in the age of conglomerates and digital, Paul remains obsessed by one dazzling writer: poet Ida Perkins, whose outsize life and audacious verse have shaped America’s contemporary literary landscape, and whose longtime publisher—also her cousin and erstwhile lover—happens to be Homer’s biggest rival. And when Paul at last meets Ida at her secluded Venetian palazzo, she entrusts him with her greatest secret—one that will change their lives forever.

Enriched by juicy details from a quintessential insider, Muse is a hilarious and touching love letter to the people who write, sell—and, above all, read—the books that shape our lives.

Read Caroline Baum's Review

An elegantly sedate in-joke from one of the US's most distinguished publishers who knows all the in and outs of his industry and where all the bodies are buried.

This gently satirical story bound with professional nostalgia sends up the literary world's rivalry over publishing a hugely glamourous and popular poet - already a preposterously laughable notion.

Using many of his real-life colleagues as the basis for his refined and cerebral characters, Galassi mocks the intellectual pretensions of his exclusive bookish milieu and the pursuit of eager ambitious scholars attempting to decode the obscure jottings of deceased authors. His aim is true, though his satire lacks bite, perhaps because he still belongs in the comfortable leathery inner sanctum and lacks the perspective of the unwelcome outsider bitterly longing to join the club.

About the Author

Jonathan Galassi is the president and publisher of Farrar, Straus & Giroux and the author of three collections of poetry, as well as acclaimed translations of the Italian poets Eugenio Montale and Giacomo Leopardi. He lives in New York City.