Hot Desk
Two rival editors, one shared desk - the hilarious new novel for fans of Nora Ephron and Katherine Heiny
Published on 2. September 2025
368 pages
978-1-4059-7254-3 (ISBN)
Description
Discover this witty and heartfelt story of romance, friendship and literary mystery set in the New York publishing scene between the 1980s and 2020s that readers are calling moving and laugh-out-loud funny...
'ROLLICKING AND ENTERTAINING' People Magazine
'BY TURNS HILARIOUS, HEART-BREAKING, SATIRICAL, CUTTING AND FUN' Laura Jane Williams, bestselling author of Our Stop
'A FUNNY, DEEPLY WISE NOVEL THAT CAPTURES ALL THE THRILLS AND ACHES OF SETTING OUT IN THE WORLD' Morgan Dick, author of The Favourite Daughter
'A COMEDY OF MANNERS FOR ANYONE WHO LOVES CURTIS SITTENFELD, NORA EPHRON, ALISON ESPACH, OR, WELL, ANYONE' Joanna Rakoff, author of MY SALINGER YEAR
'VIVID, HILARIOUS CHARACTERS AND DELICIOUS DRAMA' Reader review
1982
Jane Kinloch arrives at the legendary townhouse offices of the East River Review as a wide-eyed intern with big dreams. When she strikes up a friendship with glamorous fellow intern Rose, the two soon become inseparable. But Rose's attraction to their married boss, literary titan Edward David Adams, threatens to drive a wedge between them.
2022
Once upon a time in publishing, editors had their own offices. But now, to her great chagrin, Rebecca Blume of Avenue Publishing must share custody of a 'hot desk' with Ben Heath, editor at rival imprint Hawk Mills.
What starts as a battle of passive-aggressive Post-it notes about an unwatered cactus notes escalates after the death of renowned writer Edward David Adams. He has left behind an unpublished manuscript, and Ben and Rebecca are soon vying for the career-making opportunity to publish it.
But when Rebecca discovers that the manuscript contains a decades-old secret about her mother, Jane, she is determined to stop it from seeing the light of day.
Can she persuade her infuriating (and annoyingly handsome) rival deskmate to let it go?
A funny, sexy, unexpectedly moving novel that weaves a contemporary workplace romance with a gripping historical narrative set in the 1980s New York publishing industry.
'ROLLICKING AND ENTERTAINING' People Magazine
'BY TURNS HILARIOUS, HEART-BREAKING, SATIRICAL, CUTTING AND FUN' Laura Jane Williams, bestselling author of Our Stop
'A FUNNY, DEEPLY WISE NOVEL THAT CAPTURES ALL THE THRILLS AND ACHES OF SETTING OUT IN THE WORLD' Morgan Dick, author of The Favourite Daughter
'A COMEDY OF MANNERS FOR ANYONE WHO LOVES CURTIS SITTENFELD, NORA EPHRON, ALISON ESPACH, OR, WELL, ANYONE' Joanna Rakoff, author of MY SALINGER YEAR
'VIVID, HILARIOUS CHARACTERS AND DELICIOUS DRAMA' Reader review
1982
Jane Kinloch arrives at the legendary townhouse offices of the East River Review as a wide-eyed intern with big dreams. When she strikes up a friendship with glamorous fellow intern Rose, the two soon become inseparable. But Rose's attraction to their married boss, literary titan Edward David Adams, threatens to drive a wedge between them.
2022
Once upon a time in publishing, editors had their own offices. But now, to her great chagrin, Rebecca Blume of Avenue Publishing must share custody of a 'hot desk' with Ben Heath, editor at rival imprint Hawk Mills.
What starts as a battle of passive-aggressive Post-it notes about an unwatered cactus notes escalates after the death of renowned writer Edward David Adams. He has left behind an unpublished manuscript, and Ben and Rebecca are soon vying for the career-making opportunity to publish it.
But when Rebecca discovers that the manuscript contains a decades-old secret about her mother, Jane, she is determined to stop it from seeing the light of day.
Can she persuade her infuriating (and annoyingly handsome) rival deskmate to let it go?
A funny, sexy, unexpectedly moving novel that weaves a contemporary workplace romance with a gripping historical narrative set in the 1980s New York publishing industry.
Reviews / Votes
So charming and so accomplished, Hot Desk is by turns hilarious, heart-breaking, satirical, cutting and FUN. I absolutely loved it, and got way more than I bargained for in this dual-timeline tale of love and lust in publishing. * Laura Jane Williams, bestselling author of OUR STOP * Rollicking and hilarious * People Magazine * Hot Desk is pure, grade-A, reader's delight. Dickerman's satire of the publishing industry across decades is pitch-perfect, revealing all of its blindspots and absurdities. But beneath all the laughs (and there's a lot of them) are serious and important questions about legacy, friendship, and who gets the right to tell a story. It's the sexiest, funniest book party you'll be invited to this year, and I promise you don't want to miss it. * Grant Ginder, author of THE PEOPLE WE HATE AT THE WEDDING * The funniest novel I've read in ages! But also the most romantic! Hot Desk had me, by turns, laughing and swooning. This is a comedy of manners for anyone who loves Curtis Sittenfeld, Nora Ephron, Alison Espach or, well, anyone. So spot-on in its depiction of literary world mores, I nearly sprained my neck nodding in recognition. I challenge any reader not to fall in love with this charming debut. * Joanna Rackoff, author of MY SALINGER YEAR * A fresh take on classic rom-coms, Laura Dickerman's clever comedy of manners captures the timeless romance of literary New York. * Jillian Medoff, bestselling author of WHEN WE WERE BRIGHT AND BEAUTIFUL * A funny, deeply wise novel that captures all the thrills and aches of setting out in the world. Toggling seamlessly between 1981 and 2022 in New York City, Dickerman shows us that while Gen X and Gen Z may be very different, some things - friendship, ambition, the restorative magic of hangover takeout - are eternal. * Morgan Dick, author of THE FAVOURITE DAUGHTER *More details
Edition
New edition
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Edition type
New edition
File size
2,20 MB
ISBN-13
978-1-4059-7254-3 (9781405972543)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Person
Laura Dickerman has an MA in Fiction from NYU and an MA in English from Middlebury College's Bread Loaf School of English. She has taught high-school English at the Hopkins School, the Collegiate School for Boys, and Germantown Friends. She was an intern at The Paris Review many, many years ago. At her lowest point, she spent a month temping for her younger brother Colin at Grove/Atlantic where he was critical of her photocopying skills. She's been a bookclub leader, tutor, and recipient of an NEH grant. She has lived in Vermont, New Haven, New York City, Philadelphia, Brussels, and currently in Atlanta with her husband. They have two grown daughters. Hot Desk is her first novel.
