A Likely Story

January 9, 2023
In Abramson’s clever debut, the daughter of a famous novelist wants to be a writer, too. Isabelle Manning grows up in Manhattan idolizing her narcissistic father, Ward. But when her mother dies, she’s still floundering at 34, both professionally and in her personal life. Her own novels have been rejected by publishers, and she won’t allow her friendship with college classmate Brian to develop into romance. Ward is equally at sea: each of his recent books have sold fewer copies than the last, his current project is stalled, and he’s beginning to worry he might have dementia. Abramson periodically interrupts her stories of the frustrated writers with passages from a manuscript about a woman who forges her artist husband’s work after his death. Before Abramson reveals the author of this manuscript along with the source of its inspiration, Isabelle makes her way into the city’s literary scene, then wonders if it’s where she belongs after all. Though the tone shifts vertiginously from acerbic wit to heightened sentiment, the inventive structure keeps readers guessing about what the manuscript will reveal about the Mannings. It lands as a thought-provoking meditation on family. Agent: Stefanie Lieberman; Janklow & Nesbit Assoc.

January 1, 2023

DEBUT An unpublished manuscript becomes the catalyst for exposing family secrets in this pleasant yet uneven debut. Struggling writer Isabelle Manning is not living up to the family name. Her father Ward is a best-selling author; her mother Claire a beloved philanthropist. Two years ago, Isabelle failed to sell her novel; now she's flat broke. Shortly after Claire dies, Isabelle's literary agent threatens to drop her. While making an abrupt visit to Ward, who is oblivious to Isabelle's life and is more concerned about his fan mail and celebrity status, she finds a hidden manuscript and ponders what to do next. In addition to Isabelle's and Ward's narrations, Claire narrates in flashbacks. Other narrators include Isabelle's friend and potential love interest Brian; and Livia, the manuscript's protagonist, whose story is told in sporadic chapters. Of the five, Claire's sections are the strongest, giving a provocative look at the family before Ward's successes. This is unfortunate because the overall narrative relies on Isabelle, who is not as compelling. And both endings--the novel's and the manuscript's--wrap up too neatly. VERDICT While there are entertaining moments that will keep readers captivated, Abramson's novel heavily hints at most of the secrets several pages before they're revealed.--Anjelica Rufus-Barnes

Copyright 2023 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 15, 2023
Father and daughter novelists with a strained relationship each struggle to realize their dreams. In the wake of her mother Claire's death, Isabelle Manning has a goal, and it's a lofty one: publish a novel and make her esteemed novelist father, Ward, proud. But when Isabelle turns 35 and is no closer to being published, her goal begins to feel like a far-off dream: "Isabelle was the daughter of a real artist, a famous artist, and she was of him, his genetic material tucked deep in the fibers of her own DNA. It was difficult to exaggerate how exceptional it had felt to be the only child of a world-renowned writer. And how much it had fucked with her." For his part, Ward does not seem concerned with Isabelle's failure or particularly burdened by any sort of familial responsibility. Supplied with a hefty ego, Ward is more worried about not being able to finish another novel before he dies and how his fame will live on after him: "Ward felt a surge of melancholy that he would not get to read his own obituary, which he very much hoped would include the phrase 'greatest novelist of our time' with the absolute minimum number of modifiers." Believing her father to be seriously ill, Isabelle's desire to make Ward proud takes on a new urgency, and, when she discovers a gift her departed mother left her, Isabelle's ethics start unraveling. The story is told by switching between the past and the present and through five voices--those of Isabelle; Ward; Claire; Isabelle's on-again, off-again best friend, Brian; and a manuscript whose author is slowly revealed. In a novel largely about the creation of novels, McMullan Abramson avoids the pitfalls of jargony writing for the in-crowd and instead crafts a universal story about family, dreams, and the stories that linger long after we are gone. Complex characters weigh the benefits of sacrificing their morals to achieve a lasting legacy in this well-told tale.

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