Confessions of a Grammar Queen by Eliza Knight (Can't We Be Friends; The Mayfair Bookshop) is the delightful, Mad Men-esque story of perky copy editor Bernadette Swift. Bernadette is always slightly worried because her brother, Benjamin, is currently fighting in Vietnam. Although she generally likes Lenox & Park Publishing, where she works, her appalling boss, Mr. Wall, treats her like a secretary instead of a copy editor. But Bernadette tries to look on the bright side and is encouraged by the feminist book club she's recently joined. She has also set herself a goal of becoming "the first female CEO of a major publishing house," something no woman has yet achieved in 1960s New York.
Chapters told from the point of view of Frank, Bernadette's Great Dane, offer a glimpse into her personal life; she lives alone in a tiny apartment with Frank. Graham Reynolds, the only co-worker who doesn't treat Bernadette differently because she's a woman, slowly starts appearing in Frank's chapters as Graham and Bernadette become friends. Graham encourages Bernadette to apply for the available senior copy editor position. Even though Mr. Wall sexually harasses Bernadette and takes credit for her skillful edits on a terrible celebrity memoir, Bernadette decides to stand up for herself and her fellow women in the workplace, leading to dramatic changes at Lenox & Park.
Clever, logophilic, and appealingly feminist, Confessions of a Grammar Queen is the story of a young woman finding herself and finding her way in the midst of her misogynistic milieu. Readers will root for Bernadette's success. --Jessica Howard, former bookseller, freelance book reviewer