This was another GMA recommendation that I borrowed from my library. I had read the a blurb on it and it was something along the lines about how one black woman (Nella) has been working away for a time and is relieved when a second black woman (Hazel) comes to work beside her because the first black woman had been the only black person to work for the company. There was something about how when Hazel came to work, things started changing around the office - she was moving up very quickly, even though Nella had been there for two years and seemed to be going nowhere fast.
It's with that in mind that I sat down to read the book.
The company Nella works for is Wagner Publishing and Nella is an assistant to an editor, Vera. Nella seems to be doing a good job and people seem to like her but she feels a bit invisible because she's black.
Then when another editor hires Hazel, another black woman, to be her assistant, Nella is thrilled. She feels an immediate bond with Hazel and confides things to her that she hasn't really confided to anyone else at work. At times she feels she should hold back but Hazel encourages her to open up with "you can be real with me, sis" a line that seems to annoy Nella, at least in the beginning.
But, having the impression I did of the book, which is that someone sabotages Nella at work, I found myself willing Nella to hear me yell "don't trust her! she's out to get you!" She didn't hear me though.
Nella starts noticing that everyone seems to love Hazel and treating Nella as if she's been replaced. She tries not to take it personally but when Vera starts sending manuscripts to Hazel instead of Nella, Nella starts getting concerned for her job.
Then she gets a note: LEAVE WAGNER. NOW! It was left on her desk and she has no idea who dropped it off, or who it's from. She becomes suspicious of every one. Who would want her to leave? Her name on the envelope had been written in purple ink so she goes on a bit of a quest to find who has purple pens. She doesn't know who to trust. She doesn't even tell everything going on to her live in boyfriend or her best friend. Not that she doesn't trust them but she believes they will give her advice she won't want to take, even though she knows she should follow it.
The story is told from several different view points so that you get a full picture of what's going on. I will say, I thought I knew where things were going and who all was involved but I was wrong - I wasn't even close! And the final twist, I never saw coming! It was chilling.
You know how you hear about the "elevator pitch" where you try to sell your book and you say it's "this movie" meets "that movie" type of thing? Well, I can only think of one movie to pitch this one with and if I told you what it was, it would be a huge spoiler.
But it was good. I wanted to keep reading to get to the end to find out what all was going on and who all was involved. It did not disappoint.
I should mention that this is the author's debut book and it turns out she had left a publishing company (that she had worked at several years and explains her knowledge of working at a publishing company) to write this book. In the acknowledgements she suggests that some of the things in the book were based on some of her own experiences.
I recommend this book.
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