The Grand Scheme of Things is a brilliant debut by Warona Jay--a complex, layered satire of artistic pursuit and bias that poses questions about how far from meritocracy the world really is. Relebogile Naledi Mpho Moruakgomo, an immigrant from Botswana, is a talented playwright who goes by "Eddie." But as the rejections from talent agencies stack up, she starts to wonder if they really have anything to do with the words on the page.
She turns to Hugo Lawrence Smith, with his recognizably white name and his wealthy background. Looking for an exit from a career in law and harboring secret dreams of acting, Hugo is eager to help. He agrees to Eddie's plan to submit the play under his name to a British competition. But when they get not just an agent but an acclaimed production of Eddie's play, the situation begins to unravel.
Jay is a sharp and insightful writer, especially on questions of human nature. Eddie is delightfully chaotic and driven by deep, conflicting feelings about her identity in ways that make her character feel intensely alive. Meanwhile, Hugo's apparently genuine desire to support Eddie and see her succeed allows him to be more than just an aristocratic cutout. Still, he at times seems infuriatingly determined to ignore what the women of color around him are telling him about the reality of bias.
All the characters are so thoughtfully drawn, full of flaws and strengths, that they're guaranteed to spark intense emotions in readers. As the friction between them escalates toward a wild climax, Jay executes her fascinating setup to perfection in this novel of fraught conflicts with no easy answers. --Carol Caley, writer