Bestseller
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
Jim Talbot, a writer with a dozen unpublished novels under his belt, has been roundly rejected by virtually every agent and publisher in the land, and is willing to go to extreme lengths to make his dream of literary stardom come true. Charles Randall, the eccentric founder and managing director of Tetragon Press, a small independent publisher that has managed to survive for thirty years in a fierce publishing environment dominated by corporate juggernauts, is about to be brutally sacked by a newly appointed business consultant. In the cut-throat world of modern publishing, Charles and Jim’s paths towards literary salvation are fraught with the most unpredictable dangers. A novel of intrigue, deceit and sheer desperation, Bestseller is a caustic portrait of contemporary culture and of Britain’s obsession with fame, success and becoming the next J.K. Rowling.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Alma Books founder Gallenzi s send-up of the British book world strikes home in the details but rarely penetrates the surface. Dogged writer Jim Talbot is willing to do anything to get published, and over the course of the novel, he does: lying, stealing, cheating, and killing or at least trying to kill. When his roommates kick him out, he moves back in with his cancer-stricken mother, whose money he has been diverting for several years into his own account in lieu of paying her taxes and medical bills. He then pretends to be a literary agent shopping a scandalous memoir, gaining connections faster than he can write the nonexistent manuscript that he has sold. Meanwhile, after old-fashioned publisher Dr. Charles Randall gets fired from Tetragon, the small press to which he s devoted his life, he discovers a 15-year-old manuscript by a deceased friend whose work is back in vogue and decides to take revenge on Tetragon by starting his own imprint. As Jim and Charles grow ever more desperate in their respective attempts at literary success, Gallenzi s (Interrail) satire devolves into absurdity, which is entertaining despite falling a bit flat.
