The Woman in the Library

The book opens with a quote from Emily Dickinson: “Open me carefully” (i).

Leo Johnson (hereafter referred to as “Leo A”) writes to Hannah Tigone to give her “a nudge from a fan” (1) to start work on her next project. She just recently published The Implausible Country, and Leo tells her that the cover he saw in the bookstore where he purchased his copy looks great. He includes a photo of the book on the shelves. He sends his regrets that he missed her when she toured in New York the previous year. He hopes to come visit her soon, or maybe she can set her next work in the United States so they can meet. Until then, he will content himself with exchanging emails—not such a bad thing for “a friendship based on a common love of words” (1). He gives her an update on his own work. He writes in the Reading Room of the Boston Public Library, much like many important American writers before him, but he continues to get “stood up by the muse” (1). He just stares at the ceiling. Although his own writing is stalled, he is glad to serve as a beta reader (the first person or persons who look at a text for a writer in the drafting stage), and he will be sure to give Hannah immediate feedback.