Voracious reader Angel Robinson is directed to the perfect job by her would-be author boyfriend, Malcolm - reader/assistant to famed literary agent Lucy Fiamma. Angel can't imagine anything better than being paid to read, even if most of what she expects to cover will be dross, and the possibility of discovering another world-class writer is exhilarating. But the reality of working for Lucy is the opposite of what she expects - her office mates are unpleasant, the hours are torturous, her employer is an unreasonable shrew, and she thinks she's being stalked by a persistent, prolific, and wholly talentless aspiring author. Perhaps worst of all, she has no free time, a situation her increasingly distant boyfriend can't seem to understand. And then Angel starts getting chapters of a novel set in a literary agency. The characters are polar opposites of those as the Lucy Fiamma agency, but so precisely opposite it's spooky. And the anonymous writer seems to know details about Angel's life no outsider possibly could. The writer's someone Angel knows - but is it Malcolm, weird office mate Anna, stalkerish submitter Peter, attractive new author Damiano, or someone Angel never suspects at all?
I'm not the first to compare Blind Submission to the highly successful Devil Wears Prada, another boss-from-hell, ingenue-heroine novel. However, unlike that relatively well-written novel, I found Blind Submission irritating and ponderous. The twist at the end was broadcast chapters ahead, the anonymously-authored novel is poorly written and superficial, and Lucy is highly unlikeable and is bereft of a single redeeming feature. These last two make Angel's keenness to acquire Blind Submission, and her loyalty to Lucy, impossible to understand.
I also found some inconsistencies jarring - like the fatherless Angel comparing seeing her icy, controlled employer breaking down under the influence of tranquilisers and alcohol to "the same feeling you get when you witness your parents fighting... it was just wrong - and uncomfortable in the extreme." Not an example you'd think someone who never had more than one parent would give. (I, for example, had parents who fought a lot, so while I might use parental arguing as a simile for other kinds of distressing, upsetting or anxiety-inducing event, it would never occur to me to give that as an example of something that felt 'just wrong' or 'uncomfortable').
It wasn't all bad - the sample submissions from the slush pile are great, and highly representative (from what I understand, having no first-hand knowledge or experience of the industry) of actual submissions by misguided writers. However the only reason I finished it was because I was on a plane and was concerned that my reading material would finish before the twelve-hour flight. Note to Australian Women's Weekly - this is not a great read and I want my money back. - Alex
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