The Vixen

A Novel

By: Francine Prose

Narrated by: Tristan Morris

Named one of the best books of 2021 by NPR, The Washington Post, and Financial Times

“No one states problems more correctly, more astutely, more amusingly and more uncomfortably than Francine Prose.... The gift of her work to a reader is to create for us what she creates for her protagonist: the subtle unfolding, the moment-by-moment process of discovery as we read and change, from not knowing and even not wanting to know or care, to seeing what we had not seen and finding our way to the light of the ending.” (Amy Bloom, New York Times Book Review)

"Depending on the light, it’s either a very funny serious story or a very serious funny story. But no matter how you turn it, The Vixen offers an illuminating reflection on the slippery nature of truth in America, then and now." (Washington Post)

Critically acclaimed, best-selling author Francine Prose returns with a dazzling new novel set in the glamorous world of 1950s New York publishing, the story of a young man tasked with editing a steamy bodice-ripper based on the recent trial and execution of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg — an assignment that will reveal the true cost of entering that seductive, dangerous new world.

It’s 1953, and Simon Putnam, a recent Harvard graduate newly hired by a distinguished New York publishing firm, has entered a glittering world of three-martini lunches, exclusive literary parties, and old-money aristocrats in exquisitely tailored suits, a far cry from his loving, middle-class Jewish family in Coney Island.

But Simon’s first assignment — editing The Vixen, the Patriot and the Fanatic, a lurid bodice-ripper improbably based on the recent trial and execution of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg, a potboiler intended to shore up the firm’s failing finances — makes him question the cost of admission. Because Simon has a secret that, at the height of the Red Scare and the McCarthy hearings, he cannot reveal: his beloved mother was a childhood friend of Ethel Rosenberg’s. His parents mourn Ethel’s death.

Simon’s dilemma grows thornier when he meets The Vixen’s author, the startlingly beautiful, reckless, seductive Anya Partridge, ensconced in her opium-scented boudoir in a luxury Hudson River mental asylum. As mysteries deepen, as the confluence of sex, money, politics and power spirals out of Simon’s control, he must face what he’s lost by exchanging the loving safety of his middle-class Jewish parents’ Coney Island apartment for the witty, whiskey-soaked orbit of his charismatic boss, the legendary Warren Landry. Gradually Simon realizes that the people around him are not what they seem, that everyone is keeping secrets, that ordinary events may conceal a diabolical plot — and that these crises may steer him toward a brighter future.

At once domestic and political, contemporary and historic, funny and heartbreaking, enlivened by surprising plot turns and passages from Anya’s hilariously bad novel, The Vixen illuminates a period of history with eerily striking similarities to the current moment. Meanwhile it asks timeless questions: How do we balance ambition and conscience? What do social mobility and cultural assimilation require us to sacrifice? How do we develop an authentic self, discover a vocation, and learn to live with the mysteries of love, family, art, life and loss?

©2021 Francine Prose (P)2021 HarperCollins Publishers

Confusing plot

Captivating details that kept me listening but times when I told myself the plot twists were too much to believe! Characters were compelling

solid, but could have used a robust edit

the story line is engaging enough, with at least a couple of entertaining twists. but. at times repetitive and an editor with a sharp pencil would have easily carved out 15%. the voice over was excellent and added a lot to the story.

Overzealous narration

When a narrator emphasizes every word, no word is important and that emphasis is what one hears — not the story. In this case, even the story left something to be desired and it to forever to end. The editor should have been reprimanded

Weird Book

I finished it and felt like I didn’t understand what the plot of the book.

Very odd ball characters with an even weirder, naive protagonist.

Didn’t really end up appealing to me and I will try to return the book.

Makes No Sense

The underlying story/theme is interesting and could be important but the plot points are ridiculous and the characters, especially the protagonist, is sooo unbelievably pathetic.

Plodding

Both plot and reading were slow. I got bored. I did manage to listen to the whole thing by increasing the listening speed to 2.6. There was a plot twist toward the end that I did appreciate. But for me this book did not come close to living up to the hope I had for it after having read a positive review. Disappointing.

Breathless

The reader sounded breathless every other sentence. what a disappointment. Read, rather than listen, to this book with its interesting plot.

Prose has had us.

This novel about a bad novel is almost as bad as the novel it’s written about. I can’t help but think that Prose has put one over on her publisher and the reading public. Her tongue must have been firmly imbedded in her cheek when she wrote it.

Story kept me

I wanted to quit so often because of the narrator’s cadence while I liked the story there was way too much inner thinking. I found myself telling Simon to get on with things or ask the obvious question. But in the end I kept listening. Worth the ending.

Liked Somewhat but

I I disliked the reader of this novel. His exaggerated inflections annoyed me, but I wanted to hear the whole story so I gave it a chance. The plot was interesting, but the narrator ruminated way too much, adding unnecessary repetitions. The author didn’t know when to end the story. It went on long after the mystery was revealed.