The Mythmakers

Weir, an editor at Vanity Fair, debuts with the engrossing narrative of Sal Cannon, a magazine writer who recognizes herself in a short story by a famous novelist. The story, published in the Paris Review by the late Martin Keller, a contemporary of Norman Mailer, includes a detail from Sal’s brief encounter with Keller six years earlier, when they flirted at an event and he took a silver barrette from her hair. This detail appears in the story, which is about a young woman’s effect on an older writer’s imagination. It turns out the story was excerpted from a longer work, and Sal pitches a feature on Keller, hoping to get her hands on his manuscript. She’s already in a vulnerable place, having blundered a profile of a playwright in her desire to tell a good story. After she gets the assignment, she talks with Keller’s widow, Moira, hoping to pick up clues about why she inspired Keller. Along the way, Weir shifts the perspective to Moira, Martin, and other characters related to the couple, delving into themes of creative ambition. Weir has a journalist’s eye for mood and setting, whether in her perceptive account of Sal’s trials or her astute portrayal of Martin’s turbulent early years as a novelist. It’s a rather auspicious debut. Agent: Jen Marshall, Aevitas Creative. Michelle Brower, Trellis Literary (June)