Laura Dickerman’s debut novel was written for readers and devotees of the publishing industry. Rife with literary references, HOT DESK introduces us to characters who live in the world of competing imprints, literary giants, and the editors who vie for their latest writings, if not their entire catalogs.

Rebecca Blume works for Avenue Publishing in the post-COVID era. “Hot desking” is the new workforce rage --- sharing office desks in a hybrid work schedule. But Rebecca is sharing with Ben Heath, an editor from another imprint, Hawk Mills. A lone cactus decorates their desk and becomes the focal point of a budding flirtation when both start leaving notes for the other posted to the plant's pot.

"For anyone who likes a good Nancy Meyers movie, episodes of 'Nobody Wants This,' or Curtis Sittenfeld’s fiction, HOT DESK is for you. It’s funny, romantic, and a surprising delight from a promising new author."

When not penning short missives to each other, Rebecca and Ben become adversaries for the prized estate of Edward David Adams, who is known in the publishing world as “the Lion.”

In the 1980s, the Lion started the East River Review, the literary journal in which all the up-and-coming authors wanted to be featured. His future wife, Rose, and Rebecca’s mother, Jane, were interns there, reading submissions from the slush pile and looking for the next big name to thrust into the literary limelight. Their friendship bloomed.

Rebecca is hand-selected by Rose to handle the Lion’s estate and an uncovered manuscript about a love triangle that hits close to home. Tasked by Rose with getting Jane to read the manuscript, Rebecca begins to learn more about that period in her mother’s life, which she has remained quiet about.

Written in chapters that alternate between the ’80s and present-day New York, a history unfolds that looks closely at the competitive book industry and the relationships of two generations of a family in the business.

For anyone who likes a good Nancy Meyers movie, episodes of “Nobody Wants This,” or Curtis Sittenfeld’s fiction, HOT DESK is for you. It’s funny, romantic, and a surprising delight from a promising new author.