The Editor
A poignant, highly original novel about an author whose relationship with his very famous book editor will change him forever… ‘Told with warmth and humour – the story of a mother-son reconciliation, facilitated by a most unlikely fairy godmother…delightful’ Chloe Benjamin, author of The ImmortalistsAfter years of struggling as a writer in 1990s New York City, James Smale finally gets his big break when his novel sells to an editor at a major publishing house:none other than Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. Jackie, or Mrs. Onassis as she's known in the office, loves James's candidly autobiographical novel, about his own dysfunctional family.As Jackie and James develop an unexpected friendship, she pushes him to write an authentic ending, encouraging him to confront the truth about his relationship with his mother. But when a long-held family secret is revealed, he realises his editor may have had a larger plan that goes beyond the page…
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The Borough Press
An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd
1 London Bridge Street
London SE1 9GF
First published by HarperCollinsPublishers 2019
Copyright © Steven Rowley 2019
Steven Rowley asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.
Source ISBN: 9780008333249
Ebook Edition © ISBN: 9780008333256
Version: 2019-03-08
‘The Editor offers a delightful fictional glimpse of an iconic American family – but it is, at heart, a tribute to every family whose last name isn’t Kennedy’ Chloe Benjamin, author of The Immortalists
‘At equal turns laugh-out-loud funny and searingly poignant, Rowley has created a truly unforgettable story of a son trying to understand his mother’ Taylor Jenkins Reid, author of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo and Daisy Jones and the Six
‘The Editor is an absolute triumph! Rowley is a master of creating characters you fall in love with, and never want to leave’ Julie Klam, author of The Stars In Our Eyes and You Had Me at Woof
‘The Editor will have you weeping tears of joy when it’s not quietly breaking your heart’ Grant Ginder, author of The People We Hate at the Wedding
For my parents
In short, there’s simply not
A more congenial spot
For happily-ever-aftering than here
In Camelot.
—Camelot, lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner
Contents
Copyright
Praise for The Editor
The Quarantine: A Novel by James Smale
Dreams: February 1992
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Go Your Own Way: July 1992
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Yesterday’s Gone, Yesterday’s Gone: November 1992
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Everything Turned Around: December 1992/1993
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Chapter Thirty-Three
What Tomorrow Will Do: May 1994
Chapter Thirty-Four
Chapter Thirty-Five
Chapter Thirty-Six
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Also by Steven Rowley
About the Publisher
The room was warm, too warm, Russell thought, to share with a dead body, but no one seemed concerned. Guests wore their coats cinched tight at the waists, as if taking them off would obligate them to stay. In the back of the room a giant silver percolator was brewing coffee, and there was another kettle for tea. His mother, having had three cups black, did laps around the room like the women who exercised inside the Pyramid Shopping Center—mall milers, they called them—somehow connecting with anyone in her path and simultaneously avoiding everyone.
“Look at her,” Russell said, watching his mother’s path from his vantage point by the casket. “When this is over I swear I’m going to lock her in a room.”
“Who?” Sean tried to follow his brother’s moving gaze.
“Mom.”
“Mom? Why?”
“Why?” Wasn’t it obvious? She’s all they had left. He tugged at his tie. “Is it warm in here?”
“Very.”
Russell ran his hand across the closed casket; his father had it worst of all, stuffed inside in the suit he hated and wore only to church. Or maybe he had it best. If only Russell could give his father some air. “She has to answer some things.”
Sean offered his hand to the Speighs as they approached and gave him and his brother, the sons of Dick Mulligan, a solemn nod. “Thank you for coming.”
“Dick was a good man,” Mr. Speigh said, his nose twice the size it once was, not from the lie but from age. “It’s a shame what he d—”
