âImagine if Patricia Highsmith had written The Secret Life of Walter Mitty and instead of heroic daydreams she gave her protagonist murderous onesâthat would be Bookworm. Robin Yeatmanâs story is subversive, surprising, and satisfying in a way that only the best comic noir can be.ââClaire Oshetsky, author of Chouette
A wickedly funny debut novelâa black comedy with a generous heart that explores the power of imagination and readingâabout a woman who tries to use fiction to find her way to happiness.
Victoria is unhappily married to an ambitious and controlling lawyer consumed with his career. Burdened with overbearing in-laws, a boring dead-end job she canât seem to leave, and a best friend who doesnât seem to understand her, Victoria finds solace from the daily grind in her beloved books and the stories she makes up in her head. One day, in a favorite cafĂ©, she notices an attractive man reading the same talked-about bestselling novel that she is reading. A woman yearning for her own happy ending, Victoria is sure itâs fate. The handsome book lover must be her soul mate.
Thereâs only one small problem. Victoria is already married. Frustrated, and desperate to change her life, Victoria retreats to the dark places in her mind and thinks back to all the stories sheâs ever read in hopes of finding a solution. She begins to fantasize about nocturnal trysts with cafĂ© man, and imaginative ways (poisoned pickles were an inspired choice in Jane Smileyâs A Thousand Acres) of getting rid of the dread husband.
Itâs all just harmless fantasy born of Victoriaâs fevered imagination and her booksâuntil, one night, fiction and reality blur and suddenly it seems Victoria is about to get everything sheâs wished for . . . .