Dear Fellow Reader,

Anne Corey is an English professor at Fairfax College.  She needs to have her book (a scholarly work on several 19th-century woman novelists) published so that she can keep her job.  She wants to keep her job – she loves teaching at Fairfax and she doesn’t want to bounce around trying to find another position. Her friend, Larry Ettinger, is a professor at Fairfax; he helped her get the position. She is running out of time and publishing options.  If that isn’t enough stress, her family was not supportive of her decision to get her Ph.D. in English and the accompanying cost of that education.  She has student loans she is trying to pay off. Losing her job will not help keep her head above her debt.

Fairfax College has a new president.  Anne has not paid much attention to this as she has many other things on her mind. Her friend, Larry, tells her that she needs to go to a reception to meet the new president and then mentions that the new president went to the same school at Anne.  When she askes Larry the name of the new president, she is shocked.  It is her ex-fiance.  She had broken up with him at graduation 10 years ago and had not spoken to him since. She goes to the reception and it is definitely her Adam Martinez. So, her ex-fiance is now her boss.

That is the start of By the Book by Julia Sonneborn. It is a good premise for a that keeps blossoming. Throw in an extra-marital affair (not Anne),  a romance that is full of deceit, a death, and success (publishing? love?).  Through the story, we find out more about Anne’s family, her research, and romance. Will the dashing, successful writer Richard Forbes Chasen be the perfect man for Anne?

Some might recognize the storyline as a modern retelling of Jane Austin’s Persuasion. I liked the book.  It was fun to read and find out all the twists and turns. The cast of characters is interesting and believable.  A good first outing for Julia Sonneborn, who is an English professor.

Thanks for reading.