Who is Maud Dixon?: a novel

Identity theft takes on a new meaning in this fresh and arresting thriller. Florence Darrow is scrabbling her way up in the publishing world, working as an editorial assistant and trying in vain to get her own work noticed. After an ill-advised tryst with a married editor, Florence needs to save face, too. The opportunity seems to fall in her lap: "Maud Dixon," aka Helen Wilcox, the reclusive author of a smash best-seller, needs an assistant, and she's specifically requested Florence. When Helen brings Florence on a trip to Morocco to research her next book, Florence feels swept away by the beautiful scenery and exotic setting. But a freak accident leads to Helen's disappearance, leaving Florence to wonder if she could get the publishing career she wants by simply becoming Maud Dixon. The answer to that question encompasses the second half of the book as the intrigue builds to a satisfying conclusion. Already optioned for film, Andrews' debut is a page-turning, surprising read that will appeal to fans of Hank Phillippi Ryan's The First to Lie (2020).

When aspiring novelist Florence Darrow, the protagonist of Andrews's devilishly plotted debut, gets fired from her dogsbody job at a Manhattan publishing house, she faces the prospect that she might not be destined for greatness after all. Then fate intervenes--an offer to become the live-in writing assistant to a literary supernova who uses the pseudonym Maud Dixon. Initially, all goes swimmingly as Florence's charismatic new boss--real name Helen Wilcox, and at 32 only a few years her senior--seems keen on mentoring Florence. But when the pair embark on a research trip to Morocco, things become considerably more complicated. Especially after Florence wakes up in the hospital following a car crash to find no trace of Helen, but instead a gendarme insistent that she is in fact Helen, an understandable error given the name on the car rental paperwork as well as Helen's soggy ID. And with that the game truly is afoot as Florence scrambles to figure out the nature of what will prove to be Helen's fiendish master plot, barreling full-speed towards a breathtaking series of Highsmith-style twists and a stunning conclusion. This darkly comic take on contemporary publishing may well leave readers asking, "Who is Alexandra Andrews?" Agent: Jennifer Joel, ICM Partners. (Mar.)

Florence Darrow is working a low-level job at a publishing house, though she believes she's destined to be a great author. When she's offered the position of assistant to "Maud Dixon," an adored pseudonymous author in the vein of Elene Ferrante, she signs the NDA without a second thought and moves to the writer's home in the Catskills, a condition of the job. Maud's real name is Helen Wilcox, and she's bright, sophisticated, a little caustic--everything Florence thinks a writer should be. Florence begins typing up Helen's latest manuscript, occasionally subbing in her own phrases when she can't read Helen's handwriting, but the work isn't progressing as quickly as it needs to in order to meet the deadlines. On top of it all, Helen proposes a research trip to Morocco. A few days after they arrive, Florence wakes up in the hospital, the only survivor of a serious car crash. If Helen is gone, the role of Maud Dixon is free for the taking…right? Therese Plummer's steady narration keeps listeners grounded on the wild ride that ensues. VERDICT Even with some predictable twists and coincidences that defy credibility, fans of thrillers and bad decisions won't be able to stop listening until the end.--Stephanie Klose, Library Journal

An ambitious aspiring writer gets a dream job working for her favorite author. Andrews' devilishly clever debut opens at a publishing-house holiday party in a New York bar where editorial assistant Florence Darrow and her colleagues are debating "the question asked in countless magazine articles, online forums, and publishing lunches all over town": Who is the author behind the pseudonym Maud Dixon? Someone says they've heard it's a man! As one of the millions of fans of Dixon's debut novel, Mississippi Foxtrot, Florence dismisses the importance of the author's gender. "She knew that, whoever she was, she was an outsider, like Florence herself." Later that night, Florence ends up in a hotel with her editorial director, who happens to be married to a famous actress. "He must have known," Florence later muses, "that sleeping with a young assistant who worked for him had the potential to destroy both his career and his family." But when Florence tries to parlay their connection into a book deal, it is she who ends up losing her job. Oddly, though, she's not worried about being broke and jobless--she's sure the universe is watching out for her. And she may be right, because two weeks later she's asked to apply for a job as personal assistant to Maud Dixon herself. This delightful publishing satire continues for about half the book, and just when you're thinking "Didn't they say this was a thriller?" the wild suspense plot kicks in. The story leaps from an isolated estate outside Hudson, New York, to the dusty medinas and towering cliffs of Morocco, and here the comparisons to The Talented Mr. Ripley start to make sense. At every diabolical twist and turn, Andrews' impish sense of humor peeks around the corner to jack up the fun. Terrific characters, vivid settings, and a deliciously dastardly, cunningly constructed plot. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

*Starred Review* Identity theft takes on a new meaning in this fresh and arresting thriller. Florence Darrow is scrabbling her way up in the publishing world, working as an editorial assistant and trying in vain to get her own work noticed. After an ill-advised tryst with a married editor, Florence needs to save face, too. The opportunity seems to fall in her lap: "Maud Dixon," aka Helen Wilcox, the reclusive author of a smash best-seller, needs an assistant, and she's specifically requested Florence. When Helen brings Florence on a trip to Morocco to research her next book, Florence feels swept away by the beautiful scenery and exotic setting. But a freak accident leads to Helen's disappearance, leaving Florence to wonder if she could get the publishing career she wants by simply becoming Maud Dixon. The answer to that question encompasses the second half of the book as the intrigue builds to a satisfying conclusion. Already optioned for film, Andrews' debut is a page-turning, surprising read that will appeal to fans of Hank Phillippi Ryan's The First to Lie (2020). Copyright 2021 Booklist Reviews.

In debut author Andrews's Who Is Maud Dixon?, Florence Darrow, assistant to pseudonymous author Maud Dixon (actually Helen Wilcox), awakens in a hospital after a terrible accident with no memory of the event and Helen missing in action—so why not take over her life (75,000-copy first printing)? In the pseudonymous Finlay's buzzy Every Last Fear, NYU student Matt Pine learns that his entire family has perished while vacationing in Mexico, and the FBI and State Department are questioning the accidental gas leak story put forth by the local police. Flynn, who as a YA author writes as L.E. Flynn, goes adult with The Girls Are All So Nice Here, as Ambrosia Wellington recalls the not-so-nice thing she did one night with former best friend Sully and receives ever more threatening missives about an event she thought was history (150,000-copy first printing). In The House Uptown, Ginsburg's follow-up to Sunset City, 14-year-old Ava winds up in New Orleans after her mother's death, living with a bohemian artist grandmother who finds Ava's presence a reminder of dark things past (50,000-copy first printing). In the latest from Lovering (Tell Me Lies), things prove to be To Good To Be True as starry-eyed Skye Starling blissfully accepts a marriage proposal from her sophisticated older boyfriend, actually a devious skunk whose dark secrets the story backtracks 30 years to reveal (150,000-copy first printing). How does upright Parisian cop Alice end up on a park bench in Central Park, New York, chained to a Dublin musician she doesn't know and in possession of a gun significantly missing a bullet? Read top French author Musso's Central Park to find out. Following Oliva's The Last One, Forget Me Not features a lonely woman still trying to make sense of her past—she was born to replace a dead sibling, escaped the 20-acre compound in Washington State where she had been pretty much abandoned, and at age 12 suddenly faced an incomprehensible world. Already grabbed by 17 territories worldwide, Sten's Scandi-set The Lost Village features documentary filmmaker Alice Lindstedt's efforts to chronicle the mining town whose inhabitants—save for a dead woman and an abandoned newborn—all vanished on a single day in 1959. But bad things keep happening on set (100,000-copy first printing).

When aspiring novelist Florence Darrow, the protagonist of Andrews's devilishly plotted debut, gets fired from her dogsbody job at a Manhattan publishing house, she faces the prospect that she might not be destined for greatness after all. Then fate intervenes—an offer to become the live-in writing assistant to a literary supernova who uses the pseudonym Maud Dixon. Initially, all goes swimmingly as Florence's charismatic new boss—real name Helen Wilcox, and at 32 only a few years her senior—seems keen on mentoring Florence. But when the pair embark on a research trip to Morocco, things become considerably more complicated. Especially after Florence wakes up in the hospital following a car crash to find no trace of Helen, but instead a gendarme insistent that she is in fact Helen, an understandable error given the name on the car rental paperwork as well as Helen's soggy ID. And with that the game truly is afoot as Florence scrambles to figure out the nature of what will prove to be Helen's fiendish master plot, barreling full-speed towards a breathtaking series of Highsmith-style twists and a stunning conclusion. This darkly comic take on contemporary publishing may well leave readers asking, "Who is Alexandra Andrews?" Agent: Jennifer Joel, ICM Partners. (Mar.)