I would define this as an especially good beach read, it’s everything you could ask for: it has a mystery, it’s funny, ironic, and also has wonderful prose.

This is a novel about the novel surrounding the novel, and I know it sounds complicated and that’s actually how I felt at fist: a bit confused.
However it only takes a few (small) chapters to really get into the mystery at the center of this story and that’s where things start to get interesting and you start to relate to all the characters.

Long story short I really liked this book and you should read it too if you love mysteries and the editorial world behind the publication of a book.

If had to pick something I didn’t really like about it it would be the choice to add what I would describe as comments from the narrator as footnotes, I actually loved the comments but in my opinion footnotes are very distracting so found myself skipping them in order to continue with the story with no interruption.

I would give this book a solid 4.5 stars and I look forward to reading more by David Foenkinos!

An editor and author, who are also dating, find themselves in her hometown one weekend. While there, they go into the public library and discover a section of books that have been rejected by publishers, a "library of rejected books." They browse through the books and come across one they are both interested in. After reading it, they fall in love with the book immediately. They quickly discover that the author was the owner of a local pizzeria and is now deceased. The rest of the book, which reads like a dramatic, quirky mystery was difficult to put down. It takes place in several towns as the characters deal with the unintended consequences of the novels literary success. New found fame, fortune, and the underlying mystery of whether or not Henri Pick is really the author, kept me turning the pages. The references to the literary world between editors, publishers, authors, and critics was very interesting to me. I found the characters to be genuine, relatable, and intriguing.

I did not give a full 5-stars because it felt as though the story was wrapped up a bit too quickly, however, I did not predict the ending and I'm pretty sure I was reading it with my jaw dropped open. This book will linger with me for awhile as I really enjoyed the characters, the creativity of the story, and the ending.

Thanks to Net Galley, Pushkin Press, and David Foenkinos for an advanced review copy in exchange for an honest review.

I received a copy of this novel from the publisher via NetGalley.

This was short and, although well-translated, did seem very French in its whimsical and somewhat stylized tone. There were footnotes throughout, which don't really work on an e-reader, and which seemed a little precious. I read it in one sitting and quite enjoyed it, although if I had put it down, it might have been hard to pick it up again, as the pacing was measured rather than gripping. There was indeed a mystery about the authorship of a novel, and there were even a few twists and turns, but it wasn't exactly exciting...

This book really was a love letter written to the book industry - be it the publishers, the book reps, the book sellers and librarians and ultimately the readers and writers. It was the kind of book that made me smile and chuckle because I felt connected to the characters.

It starts off in a small town in France. A well known editor of a publishing house goes to her hometown, Crozon, to visit her parents with her boyfriend. Over there, they go to visit this library that is known to the library of rejects. They find a book there written by an unassuming pizza restaurant owner, Henri Pick, who died a few years ago. The book captures the imagination of both Delphine, her boyfriend and her family and Delphine decides to publish it. The book is an instant hit in the country. People are enamoured by it and shocked that an unassuming restaurant owner can have written such a masterpiece. But a lot of people also believe that the book isn’t written by Henri Pick. One such literary critic goes on to try to find the truth.

I do have to say that the literary critic, Rouche, doesn’t come in till the 70% marker in the book. I very much enjoyed the book and thought it was very well written. It was written in simple but heartwarming prose mixed with wry humour and I found myself highlighting many things. I felt connected to the characters and found them charming. However, I did not like the end. I felt like it was almost a disservice the way it ended. That would be my only point of contention.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for sharing this ARC with me in exchange for my honest review.

Where to begin to review this book? See, there is a whole lot to unpack here, and if we unpack too much, we’ll end up with spoilers. To begin with, let’s start with the overall effect of this book, which is quite a romp. When I began reading this book, Gourvec, the man came up with the idea of housing these rejected manuscripts (within the municipal library) was described as someone who could help people find the right book for them – even for someone who didn’t like to read. That put me in mind of the protagonist in Nina George’s novel “The Little Paris Bookshop,” whose owner seems to have this same talent (maybe this is a French trait?), so I thought I was going to get something like that. However, no sooner had this been revealed than that character dies, leaving the library in the hands of his assistant Magali. Apparently Magali wasn’t much into reading or books when she was hired by Gourvec, and after his death, she doesn’t do much to care for his collection of unwanted books. Of course, all this changes when Delphine comes to visit (as the blurb suggests).

However, I don’t think the story to publish this abandoned manuscript on the one hand, and solve its mystery on the other, is really what is at heart here. In fact, although on the surface this whole discovery/mystery plot surrounding the book seems central to this novel, I think that Foenkinos actually used that as a ruse to investigate something much deeper, something much more complex. If I’m really honest, I might say that the blurb is terribly misleading, and in fact, this book isn’t actually about the questions surrounding an uncovered masterpiece at all. For me, this is actually a conglomeration of connected character studies and a whole bunch of little coming-of-age stories, all focused on the effect that recognition and/or admiration can have on people, especially when previously, their lives may have lacked or lost either, or both of these.

Let me explain. Although there is a certain major arc to this story around the publication and authorship of this book, there are also many little side stories going on here. While all of them are connected in their own way to this novel, they also seem to be connected through how this book seems to have spawned some kind of change in each of their lives. Furthermore, the old adage “no two people read the same book” is proven in full force here, as we hear how each person reacts to the novel, and personalizes parts of it to parallel either their own lives, or give new insights into their histories. Now, this doesn’t mean that all of the effects of this mysterious novel are positive ones, and in fact, we also see how the prospect of fame and fortune can bring out the worst in some people, particularly those who would take advantage of someone else for their own gain. In addition, not all of the changes that this book’s publication cause in these characters, are for the better. This means that while it might seem like this is a plot driven book, I actually think it is more character driven – albeit multiple characters, but still. That makes this a deceptively layered novel, that investigates the human condition from different angles.

Finally, Foenkinos achieves all this with a prose style that is very much on the cheeky side, as if he didn’t really take any of this whole thing seriously, and so maybe we as readers shouldn’t either. However, I should mention that although this is contemporary fiction, there was a bit of an older-world feel to the prose here that didn’t totally fit with the current era for me. This means that I was constantly taken a bit aback every time things like Google or smart phones were mentioned. This could be the fault of the translator, but I must admit that it was a bit unsettling for me.

Now while I enjoyed this book a great deal, I’m unsure (at this point) if it is worthy of a full five stars or not. On the one hand, it was a very fun read, with a great twist of an ending. On the other hand, I wonder if this book is a potential modern classic, or perhaps it’s just a satire of the publishing industry and its adoration of pushing “form over substance” in order to sell more books; if I give it five stars, am I buying into that? Well, instead, maybe I’ll give it four and a half stars and allow myself to change this rating if I feel that I’ve been overly generous or not generous enough, after I think about it more. Either way, I still recommend this book warmly, and I feel it will have quite a widespread appeal.

This first publication in a collaborative series between Pushkin Press and Walter Iuzzolino, aka Walter Presents, holds early promise. I have been a fan of the Walter Presents selections (via amazon Prime), in which he curates international tv series for American viewing, and applaud his branching out into books.

This is not the deepest or most intellectually challenging of stories, but one which is very entertaining and which pays homage to unpublished works which may or may not have merit. Many references to Richard Brautigan, but closer in spirit to possibly John Kennedy O'Toole and the tragedy of his story. Hung on the barest of plots, it does have some good characterizations, but a bit more soap than I like.

Most British readers will be familiar with the video on demand service Walter Presents curated by Walter Iuzzolino. Launched on 3 January 2016 Walter Presents specialises in foreign language drama and comedy, subtitled in English.

Recently Walter Presents joined forces with Pushkin Press in publishing translated work and the first of this is the charming The Mystery of Henry Pick by French author and director David Foenkinos.

If there’s one topic which instantly attracts a book lover’s attention it’s a book about books. What better topic to read about than the one thing you love? If the book oozes whimsy and quirkiness in an easy, yet well-written package, even more so.

You can read the rest of the review here: https://wanderingwestswords.wordpress.com/2020/06/01/the-mystery-of-henri-pick-david-foenkinos/

No one does whimsical – and gets away with it - better than the French. This charming little literary mystery starts with a library of rejected books and goes on to explore authorship, publishing and how sometimes all the fuss about a book becomes more important than the book itself. The basic plot here is the discovery, in a small library in a small town in Brittany, of an unpublished manuscript, apparently written by a local pizza café owner who never, in his lifetime, showed any interest in books or reading or writing. So is this the literary sensation of the century? Or a hoax? A deliberate fraud? I found it a delightful read, with many quirky characters who somehow manage to remain real, and clever and believable dialogue. There’s a nice satisfying ending too. And for an added bonus, you can look up American author Richard Brautigan and discover how he envisaged a library for rejected manuscripts in his novel The Abortion, and also how there really is such a library in the US. Look it up!

THE MYSTERY OF HENRI PICK:

In a world that appreciates success, it is refreshing to discover that rejected books find a home in a small town’s library. This idea is at the center of this story. A library that sets aside space specifically for books that were rejected from publishers is cause for celebration, if just for the fact that it gives those writers a sense of success and accomplishment. This is the thread that runs through this story, and quite an interesting story it is. The story grabs you from its opening and just gets more entertaining.

The mystery behind the author of an unpublished book, and the book itself, brings life to a tiny town located far from the big cities and their hustle and bustle. The book becomes a sensation and tourists flock to see the town it was born in, as well as to get glimpses of its unknown author’s life.

This story puts you in the lives of the characters and their interesting backgrounds, and challenges you to solve the mystery that touches all their lives, too.

This book is an enjoyable journey. Along with the idea of a library of rejected books, the story follows a mystery revolving around an author of a phenomenal novel. I don't know why but I keep thinking about the song Eleanor Rigby while reading. Maybe it's because the story also includes pieces of the life of rejecting or rejected characters but with a warm, light-hearted tone. The translation is really smooth and the writing is easy to follow, perfect or a holiday read.
Thank you NetGalley and Pushkin Press for sending me a copy.

Ugh, not liking this, hmmm, now that is interesting, oh well, kind of funny, could he really have written it, did he really say that, no she actually did that.

This is a book about writers, all sorts, good, bad, tried and failed, tried and succeeded. It is also about readers and publishers and good people and egotistical people which would be the readers because as it is pointed out” Reading is a completely egotistical pleasure. Unconsciously we expect books to speak to us.” It is also inferred that “words always have a destination.” Interesting I never knew that but can acknowledge its truth.

Anyway, a library of rejected books is created within a library in a small town in Brittany. A masterpiece is discovered and attributed to the most unlikely man. As sometimes happens things are blown out of any sense of reality and there are always the outliers who just have to wreak havoc to prove their brilliance and around and around, we go and the mysterious writer has to be defined and the house of cards is crumbling. The story is told is the most delicate of indelicate ways with a slight disconnect between all of the characters and the unreality of every situation.

Amusing little book. Thank you NetGalley and Pushkin Press for a copy.

A brilliant and heart warming literary caper, the story of Henri Peck and his lost and found novel is a real joy. Quirky, funny and profound in equal measures, it's a must for people with a love of books, or just a love of life. It's full of twists and turns and there really is something quite special about this book. Read it, read it now!

“According to him, it was not a question of liking or not liking to read, but of finding the book that was meant for you.”

What if the book you were meant to read – a book that is just right for you and you shouldn’t live without – was rejected by a publisher? Luckily, in the world of The Mystery of Henri Pick you could go to the library of rejects in Crozon, Brittany (France). Gourvec, the owner, would examine a reader’s physical appearance to work out which author they needed to find a book that speaks to them.

Humor is embedded through the subjects the characters talk about and the thoughts they express. But even though you see it as funny, there is a grain of truth in most things that happen. Sometimes the situation reveals a bitter truth, sometimes something beautiful. In a way, this book is about dealing with failure – and hopefully turning it into a belated success – and about picking yourself up again when things don’t go your way.

“An author can write the most farfetched or implausible story ever, but there will still be readers who will say: ‘I don’t believe it: you wrote the story of my life!'” Food for thought… many lines in this book made me think and reflect. Are books moving to form over substance? Is the story around it more important than the story within? In The Mystery of Henri Pick, David Foenkinos makes fun of popular books: are they popular because they are such good books or because of the story behind it. And if it’s the latter, does it matter? An interesting person or story sells at least as well as a good book. If your book becomes a success by accident, shouldn’t you just celebrate your mastery of luck?

The Mystery of Henri Pick is not a book I read from front to cover. New characters get introduced so frequently, that I couldn’t connect to any of them. Whenever the book switches to the point of view of a new character, I would take a break from reading. This can be a positive thing if you only want to read a few pages a day, but negative if you like to read a book in one or two sittings. Because of this I felt less immersed, as if I were merely a spectator.

Which brings me to one last thought: what if the book that is meant for me won’t ever exist? Perhaps it won’t ever be written, finished, published, or it has been published out of my sight? In case it is the latter, the book would be a perfect fit for the library of invisible books… At least The Mystery of Henri Pick has a different destiny, because I found it and recognize its existence.

In the small town of Crozon, Brittany the discovery of a rejected manuscript by a Parisian editor prompts curiosity about the author. Could a simple pizzeria owner write something so enchanting?⁠
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I was drawn to this based on the synopsis alone. This novel was originally published in French then translated to English. While the story flowed well, I think a few things ended up being lost in translation. I found a few sentences awkward but that could also be a result of not understanding French culture. ⁠
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This is one of the few books I wasn't able to rate as soon as I finished it simply because I didn't like the ending. I had to sit with it for a while to decide how I felt about it. I try to stay away from reviewing books, and lean more towards recommending books I find interesting and which provoke thought and discussion. ⁠
That said, here are some of my takeaways: ⁠
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Hype over substance. This is a book about book. Mostly the publishing and promotion side. How often do we get so caught up with the fanfare surrounding the book such that the actual content and substance of the book takes a back seat?⁠
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This book asked us to think about the consequences of our actions. Before you make a decision, do you consider how far reaching the repercussions of that decision/action might be? Or do you solely focus on what parts of your own life will be altered? ⁠
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Although I didn't love the ending, I appreciated how much it made me think and that alone makes it worth reading. ⁠
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This is a great story, whimsical in that very Gallic way I love so much. It would be a shame for others if I were to give away any of the plot beyond the publisher’s blurb. A medley of unusual and endearing characters, with a soupçon of mystery and a big splash of romance, it was just what I needed in these locked-down days to transport me to the bistros of Paris and the Brittany coast. Plenty of references to real people and events in the arts and publishing worlds had me reaching for the internet, too, all very interesting. Highly recommended.

This is a wonderfully quirky tale- part mystery and yet more widely an exploration of human frailties. The story brings together an array of fragile characters and in a warm , often comical way, tells their stories against the back drop of determining who the mystery author of a previously rejected and unpublished book is. In some senses the book feels as those it is being narrated directly to the reader and this hooked me. The individual tales and the lives of those connected directly or indirectly to the book are beautifully described with satisfying conclusions. I have seen the film Delicacy by the author and could envisage the story in a visual form. If you want a book that is a literary mystery but also a journey through life’s challenges , adventures and beauties then take a chance and read this

Every single time I finish a book from David Foenkinos I ask myself if it is possible for this author to write a bad book. Once again I have been proven that it cannot happen.

The Mystery of Henri Pick is a story of a mysterious book found in a library of unsuccessful books. This library, specializing in works that have been rejected by publishers, provides a way for authors to feel accomplished after writing their "masterpiece". Once popular but now forgotten, known only to locals. Here is where a young editor Delphine and her husband (a debut writer with very mild success) find a book that becomes an overnight bestseller. People are drawn to the mysterious story that was allegedly written by a recently deceased pizzamaker. This book proves to be lifechanging not only for the young couple.

There is something utterly charming in Foenkinos' writing style. The smooth way he moves from funny, light dialogues to profound declarations that you will want to write down just to re-read later is absolutely amazing. There is also this narrative that slightly mocks the characters but still remains to observe them lovingly.
In The Mystery of Henri Pick, it's mainly in for of footnotes that add another dimension to the story.

His characters are whimsical and quirky but it rarely feels like trying too much. They are individual yet very distinctive and that still gives them the feeling of being somewhat real. Foenkinos is great in connecting stories of individual characters to create the main story. It's a clever way that creates freshness and therefore it's difficult to become bored reading.

I would recommend trying books by David Foenkinos to absolutely everybody. They are clever, hilarious, and always carry an interesting main idea - the perfect combination.

Many thanks to Steerforth Press and NetGalley for sending me this delightful book for review

In The Mystery of Henri Pick, David Foenkinos uses the thriller technique—the template of a mystery story—to keep his readers interested and at the same time he presents, in a subtle and gently satirical manner, an insider picture of the world of publishing.

Foenkinos introduces several real-life characters into his novel, to the extent the reader is sometime confused as to what is real and what is fictional. There are references to Michel Houellebecq, Laurent Binet, Oliver Nora, the CEO of Grasset and Vivian Maier, an American photographer.

In fact, the novel begins with a real-life American author, Richard Brautigan, who had the idea of creating a library for manuscripts which had been rejected by publishers. Though Brautigan committed suicide in 1984, his fans fulfilled his dream and created library for rejected books in the 1990s.

Jean-Pierre Gourvec, a French native of Crozon, Brittany, decides to replicate this library. So successful was the venture, that the corner created for him at the back of the municipal library turned out to be too limited to house all the books he acquired and hence he moved into a more spacious location and even appointed an assistant by the name of Magali Croze, who took over the management of the library once Jean-Pierre passed on.

The scene shifts to Paris where we meet Delphine Despero, a resourceful, career conscious and very successful editor with Grasset. She has just promoted a novel, The Bathtub by Frédéric Koskas with whom she has also fallen in love. While Delphine and Frédéric spend their summer holiday with Delphine’s parents in Morgan, near Crozon, their curiosity is aroused and they visit the library of rejected books which is still managed by Magali. Delphine and Frédéric discover what they believe is an outstanding novel The Last Hours of a Love Affair. The manuscript bears the name of Henri Pick, a non-entity who never wrote a line, never read a book, ran a pizzeria all his life and who had died two years ago leaving behind a wife and a daughter.

Foenkinos makes a dig at the publishing industry as Delphine shrewdly realises that she can engineer a coup by publishing a novel found in a library for rejected books written by a pizzeria owner—a great selling point. Pick’s eighty-year-old widow, Madeleine, is merely a pawn in her game and Delphine’s mind is already buzzing with royalties, film rights and the secrecy involved in making a splash when the book is finally published. She shows little sympathy Madeleine who is forced to face the camera and be interviewed on La Grande Librairie.

Foenkinos presents another unpleasant character, Jean-Michel Rouche, a former journalist at Figaro Littéraire who wants to make a comeback and who goes through immense trouble to track down the ‘real’ author of this manuscript.

Foenkinos keeps us in suspense till the very end. But the novel is much more than a mere mystery story. The discovery of Pick’s novel affects the lives of several characters lifting them out of the impasse they are facing and brings love and happiness into their lives.

Imagine a library of rejected manuscripts, where failed books find a new home. Actually, it doesn't take too much imagination, because such a place really does exist: the Brautigan Library in Vancouver, Washington, named after the author Richard Brautigan, who invented such a library in his novel The Abortion. In The Mystery of Henri Pick, the librarian Jean-Pierre Gourvec forms a similar collection in his small Breton town of Crozon. For decades, shelves of rejected stories slumber in the back of the town library until, some years after Gourvec's death, something remarkable happens. Up-and-coming young editor Delphine Despero, at home on a visit to her parents, visits the library of rejected manuscripts with her author boyfriend. They discover a remarkable text - a masterpiece, signed by one Henri Pick. Snapped up by the publishing world, this book becomes a sensation, less for its content than for the romantic story of its creation. But how did the late Pick, a humble pizza chef with no discernable literary leanings, come to create such a beautiful novel? As Crozon adjusts to its new literary fame, the novel begins to affect the lives of those connected with it. And then a maverick journalist raises a controversial prospect. What if the novel isn't really by Pick at all?

Jean-Michel Rouche isn't trying to be difficult. He just wants to find out the truth. It hasn't always been like that: in his past life, as a ruthless literary critic, he was notoriously abrasive, shattering pretensions and making enemies without a care in the world, confident that his status would protect him. Now he's just a fading middle-aged journalist with a nose for a story, and he's pretty sure that the mild-mannered Henri Pick couldn't possibly have produced the sensational Last Hours of a Love Affair. But the problem is that the world wants to believe in Pick's authorship. People love the idea of a man quietly writing a masterpiece in the quiet hours between making pizza dough and opening his restaurant. They love the idea that he was blind to his own brilliance, and that he consigned his manuscript to the library of rejected books without even trying to get it published. Pick becomes an everyman: an avatar for everyone who's ever dreamed that they have a novel in them (and haven't we all?). His story gives hope to those whose novels have been rejected, and appeals to the romantics. Pilgrims begin flooding to Crozon's cemetery, to the bemusement of the stolid locals.

And no one, perhaps, is more bemused than Pick's wife Madeleine. Her late husband apparently had hidden depths that he never shared with her. Why? And yet, she begins to think it possible. Couldn't the novel relate to their brief separation when they were seventeen which, at the time, felt like a towering drama? As journalists and TV crews clamour for her story, Madeleine's humble life is suddenly thrown into a new light. And she's not the only one who is changed. The novel begins to shift the foundations of other lives as well. There's Madeleine and Henri's daughter Joséphine, whose husband has walked out on her, whose daughters have moved to Berlin, and whose fragile pride is currently founded on her lingerie shop in Rennes. There's Magali Croze, Gourvec's successor as Crozon's librarian, who begins to reassess her faded relationship with her husband. There's Rouche, whose quest gives his career a much-needed boost and opens the possibility of a more rewarding future. And of course there's Delphine too. The success of Pick's novel has boosted her career and given her reputation new lustre, while her boyfriend Frédéric struggles to get recognition for his own (less glamorous) literary efforts. Every one of these people will be transformed by the story of Pick's novel. Some of them think they can solve the mystery. But who will be proven right?

Foenkinos's novel has been a massive success in France: it's already been turned into a film, which came out last year with Fabrice Luchini in the role of Rouche. Its appeal is obvious: this is a novel written about books, by someone who loves books, for other people who love books. It mixes reality with fiction: for example, Delphine is credited with recognising the brilliance of Laurence Binet's HHhH, which Grasset did indeed publish; and I imagine there are plenty more Easter eggs for those familiar with the world of French publishing. I have a sneaking suspicion that there are also stylistic Easter eggs. I was struck by the frequent use of ellipses to show when characters pause or are silent ('...'). Could this be a playful reference back to the start of the novel, when Gourvec longs for an assistant to whom he can chat about the use of ellipses in Céline? Is this the kind of thing you find in Céline? I suspect it's a literary in-joke - the kind that makes you wonder how many others you're too poorly-read to spot. But I stress: there's nothing pretentious about the novel. It's just a love letter to books of all sorts. Foenkinos tells us about the novels his characters love: Rouche is working his way through Roberto Bolaño's 2666, while (in the 'past') we see Gourvec assessing the visitors to his library and carefully selecting what he thinks will be the perfect book to awaken their passion for reading (he judges that his assistant Magali would adore The Lover by Marguerite Duras). There are lots of references which lead you off down happy rabbit-roles of research: I ended up taking a break about halfway through to listen to Barbara's song Göttingen, after it sparks a host of teenage memories for one character.


I really did enjoy this little book. It's very French in ways I find hard to define: something to do with the cosy languor of small-town life; the focus on middle-aged characters and their romantic tribulations; the joy taken in literature; and the way that a sudden discovery offers a prism for modest people to reassess their lives. In many ways it reminded me of Grégoire Delacourt's The List of My Desires, another novel about a small-town life transformed by unexpected prosperity, although The Mystery of Henri Pick is more upbeat. Credit must go to Sam Taylor for a sparky translation which even adds little verbal jokes that presumably don't work in French ('Delphine could already imagine readings unpicking Pick's life'). It's a pleasure to read: heartwarming, playful, but also sensitive to the hopes and dreams of its assorted characters. And the ending is just perfect. If you're familiar with modern European literature, there are lots of references here to make you smile; but if you just want a good, solid story of love and mystery, this will work equally well. Who doesn't love a story about an underdog producing a masterpiece that takes the literary world by storm? Deliciously Gallic.

As a small P.S., this is the first book in a series that Pushkin will publish in association with Walter Presents, who also work with Channel 4 to 'curate' (I hate that word when used carelessly but here it is accurate) a selection of foreign cinema for their viewers. It looks as though Walter is now turning his eye on European fiction, so I'm keen to see what other little gems they come up with. Bon travail!

This review will be published on my blog on Sunday 10 May 2020 at the following link:
https://theidlewoman.net/2020/05/10/the-mystery-of-henri-pick-2016-david-foenkinos

Perhaps this book is meant for English majors to sit around a discuss what makes a good book? A good story? The Mystery of Henri Pick feels like Daniel Pennac's Rights of the Reader meets a "how to get published" manual for aspiring writers.
Is there a gimmick? What sells a story? Literature is personal, so it would seem that publishers aren't so much concerned with the quality of the writing, but if they can sell the book. Seriously, literature seminars everywhere should read and discuss this book.