Book Brief: The Literary Undoing of Victoria Swann by Virgina Pye

The Literary Undoing of Victoria Swann by Virginia Pye

This is simply put, a love letter to books.

The Literary Undoing of Victoria Swann tells the story of a successful woman author of romance and adventure novels who becomes a champion of women’s rights as she takes on the literary establishment and finds her true voice.

I personally love reading about the writers who create the worlds that I routinely lose myself into and this book took me right into the world of best-selling writer, Victoria Swann. It does a marvellous job of showing the behinds the scenes of publishing that most readers never get to see. At the end of the day, publishing is a business, but one that historically has not willingly embraced diversity.

We see literary snobbishness set against popular appeal, the weight of bending to commercial realities versus the freedom to explore new territory, and the struggle to find and claim one’s voice.

Virginia Pye brings us into this world where women and their realities are unacknowledged or completely discountenanced and shows how brave Victoria is to stand up for her beliefs.

I lived in Boston, where most of the book is set, for a few years and although this is a city of a very different time from when I resided there, the spirit of Boston is completely recognizable. Many of the buildings and places referenced were so familiar to me from my time there, that I was transported back to the city and the feeling of being there.

I think the book veered into a level of preachiness towards the end with its rather heavy-handed style of conveying the depth of Victoria’s passion for her emerging sense of self, the importance of libraries in nurturing readers and writers, among other topics. So, this is something to note if you prefer subtlety in “learning the lessons” of the book or prefer to simply being left draw your own conclusions yourself instead of being told what to think.

This is not a book that takes a lukewarm stance on any of the featured issues and in these times of increased book bans, that takes some courage.

I received the ARC from NetGalley to review.