Muse

In his first novel, well-respected poet and editor Jonathan Galassi offers a lively story of smart people who love language and books. Galassi's spikily tender send-up of the publishing world is fortunate to have a narrator with Arthur Morey's keen sensibilities. Morey delivers a first-rate performance, building plausible characters who range from self-serving to heroic. Publishers are flocking to publish young hot-ticket poet Ida Perkins. Publishers flocking? Hot-ticket poet? It seems Perkins is the exception to the rule. Her poetry has mass public appeal. Sounds like a fairy tale, but the novel reminds us that there was a time--before the digital age--when soon-to-be-literary-giants were scouted by the publishing industry and poetry was important. Morey makes Galassi's debut memorable listening. S.J.H. © AudioFile 2015, Portland, Maine


In his first novel, well-respected poet and editor Jonathan Galassi offers a lively story of smart people who love language and books. Galassi's spikily tender send-up of the publishing world is fortunate to have a narrator with Arthur Morey's keen sensibilities. Morey delivers a first-rate performance, building plausible characters who range from self-serving to heroic. Publishers are flocking to publish young hot-ticket poet Ida Perkins. Publishers flocking? Hot-ticket poet? It seems Perkins is the exception to the rule. Her poetry has mass public appeal. Sounds like a fairy tale, but the novel reminds us that there was a time--before the digital age--when soon-to-be-literary-giants were scouted by the publishing industry and poetry was important. Morey makes Galassi's debut memorable listening. S.J.H. © AudioFile 2015, Portland, Maine

March 16, 2015
In poet Galassi’s first novel, a book editor navigates the world of 21st-century publishing while unraveling the secrets of his lifelong hero, an octogenarian poet named Ida Perkins. The novel opens during the postwar literary boom, when nemeses Homer Stern and Sterling Wainwright launch competing houses—P&S and Impetus, respectively. The protagonist, Paul Dukach, begins working at P&S in the ’90s, when Union Square is still “the city’s major needle park.” The bulk of the story, though, transpires in the aughts, when Paul, driven by his obsession with Ida, befriends Homer’s foe, Sterling, a cousin of the poet. When Sterling gives Paul the cryptic notebooks of Ida’s late love to decode, the project becomes an occasion for a meeting with Ida. This meeting reveals her final, secret collection—the contents of which, Paul realizes, have the potential to turn publishing upside-down. The fun of this book is watching Galassi, who serves as president and publisher of FSG, weave his fictional characters into real literary history and put his considerable gifts as a poet to good use. Indeed, Perkins’ verses (“she smells the ozone” / “after love the fear”) surpass Galassi’s expositions on publishing and its ongoing war against Big Tech. Agent: Melanie Jackson, Melanie Jackson Agency.