Rebecca is relieved to be back in the Avenue Publishing office. She loves time with her grandmother, but both living and working in Mimi’s apartment during the COVID-19 pandemic was a bit too much.
Ben is excited to work at Hawk Mills, period. He’s eager to follow the rules, understand the norms and maybe make a few major acquisitions in his first publishing job.
At Avenue and Hawk Mills, the new normal includes “hot desks”: the two imprints share space, splitting in-office days with each worker leaving their assigned desk tidy for the next user. Rebecca and Ben have never met, but etiquette concerning their shared desk quickly puts them at odds. And soon, so does competition for the estate of literary giant Edward David Adams.
Hot Desk is a romp through post-pandemic New York’s literary scene, pitting two young, ambitious book editors against unseen foes. It’s a snappy, entertaining read with a meaty backstory. Debut novelist Laura Dickerman dives into questions of literary genius whose problematic facets don’t hold up to modern scrutiny. As the editors race to claim Adams’ unpublished work, they ask themselves big questions about who we lionize and whose voices matter.
Though Hot Desk is fiercely entertaining, it may suffer from taking on too much. Even so, its mix of historical fiction, comedy of manners, literary mystery, feminist examination of a beloved author and a splash of romance offers readers lots to love. Dickerman offers thoughtful analysis as Rebecca and Ben contemplate Adams’ place in the literary canon. The friction between the pair suffers in comparison, largely focusing on the contested ownership of a cactus and inadequate cleaning habits. But Dickerman has otherwise populated the novel with a thoroughly charming cast of characters. Combined with Dickerman’s sly skewering of modern office norms—gossipy Instagram accounts, out-of-hand interoffice communication platforms, the colleague who still hasn’t figured out how to unmute before talking on a video call and the classic, passive-aggressive sticky note—Hot Desk is a colorful and satisfying debut.