The Passionate Papers of Fiona Pilgrim

Reviewer: NANCI MILAM (Indianapolis, IN)
Nanci@aireborn.com
wc - 209

"Guffman" and "Spinal Tap" for Writers

If you laughed at the "Remains of the Day" lunch boxes and "Dinner with Andre" action figures in "Waiting for Guffman", and if you fed off the original plot twists in "World According to Garp" - in short if you want a great laugh delivered via terrific writing, this is a book to add to your library.

In the beginning we meet Joe Leonard, frustrated legit writer,desperate for income, who adopts a pseudonym (Fiona Pilgrim), with the intention of hacking out romance novels. Been there (with above plot) and done that, you might think, but you haven't been where this author takes you.

After setting the premise, author Rubadeau reveals his tale through a series of letters from his protaganist, Joe to an academic mentor at Harvard, from Joe (as Fiona) to June Featherstone (Britain's top romance author), and from June to Fiona. As three romance stories develop, those real more implausible than those fictional, we learn the do's and don'ts of authoring romance (i.e., romance readers aren't generally fluent in foreign languages, but we can skip translating "cul-de-sac"), along with more details about Romania than we ever hoped (or wanted) to know.

In one sentence, I recommend "The Passionate Papers of Fiona Pilgrim" because it's wellcrafted
and fun!

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