The Editor: How Publishing Legend Judith Jones Shaped Culture in America

In the introduction to this intimate and illuminating biography, Franklin (coauthor of The Phoenicia Diner) writes that editors “must, at once, remain laser focused on their writers’ specific needs, while keeping abreast of shifts in the culture at large.” In that spirit, Franklin documents the life and career of Knopf editor Judith Jones (1924–2017)—who edited and/or championed such household names as Sylvia Plath, John Updike, Julia Child, James Beard, and Anne Frank—while depicting what publishing was like for women from the 1950s to the early 2000s. A self-described “adventurous girl,” Jones began her career at Doubleday and spent more than 50 years at Knopf; developed her love of French cooking while living in Paris, where she met her husband, food writer Richard Evan Jones; and had a knack for spotting shifts in the zeitgeist, leading her to become an early publisher of books on vegetarian cooking, organic gardening, and “ethnic” food. Franklin also spotlights the demands placed on working moms like Jones and many of her authors, and takes brief, revelatory sojourns into those writers’ lives, including a stirring section on Black chef Edna Lewis, who was raised in a town founded by formerly enslaved Americans. The result is an exceptional feast for bibliophiles and foodies alike. Agent: Kari Stuart, ICM Partners. (May)