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  • Published: 1 November 2022
  • ISBN: 9780593185483
  • Imprint: Plume
  • Format: Hardback
  • Pages: 288
  • RRP: $39.99

A Career in Books

A Novel about Friends, Money, and the Occasional Duck Bun





A Career in Books is a graphic novel for everyone who's wanted to "work with books" and had NO idea what it entailed. It's for those who were taken aback by that first paycheck. It's for those who wanted a literary career even in the face of systemic racism, who dealt with the unique challenges of coming from an immigrant family, and whose group chat is their lifeline.

A Publishers Weekly Best Books 2022: Comics pick

A Career in Books
is a graphic novel for everyone who's wanted to "work with books" and had NO idea what it entailed. It's for those who were taken aback by that first paycheck. It's for those who wanted a literary career even in the face of systemic racism, who dealt with the unique challenges of coming from an immigrant family, and whose group chat is their lifeline.

Shirin, Nina, and Silvia have just gotten their first jobs in publishing, at a University Press, a traditional publisher, and a trust-fund kid's "indie" publisher, respectively. And it's . . . great? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ They know they're paying their dues and the challenges they meet (Shirin's boss just assumes she knows Cantonese, Nina cannot get promoted by sheer force of will, and Silvia has to deal with daily microaggressions) are just part of “a career in books.” When they meet their elderly neighbor, Veronica Vo, and discover she's a Booker Prize winner dubbed the “Tampax Tolstoy” by the press, each woman finds a thread of inspiration from Veronica’s life to carry on her own path. And the result is full of twists and revelations that surprise not only the reader but the women themselves.

Charming, wry, and with fantastic black-and-white illustrations, A Career in Books is a modern ode to Rona Jaffe’s The Best of Everything, and perfect for fans of Good Talk, Younger, and The Bold Type, as readers chart the paths of three Asian-American women trying to break through the world of books with hilarious, incisive, and heartbreaking results.

  • Published: 1 November 2022
  • ISBN: 9780593185483
  • Imprint: Plume
  • Format: Hardback
  • Pages: 288
  • RRP: $39.99

Praise for A Career in Books

Praise for A Career in Books:
"Kate Gavino has created a welcome jolt of a book—a hilarious, addictive read that just happens to reclaim Asian American history while illuminating our present. And it’s fun to read. Whew, we needed this one."—Mira Jacob, author of Good Talk

"With quill-sharp narration and spot-on details, this delightful graphic novel from Gavino (Last Night’s Reading) depicts New York City publishing through the eyes of three Asian American NYU grads who share an apartment... Specificity is the fire that fuels this witty social satire, in which fairness doesn’t always triumph, but friendship does."
Publishers Weekly (STARRED REVIEW)

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