Confessions of a Grammar Queen

By Eliza Knight

Book Overview

There are no female publishing CEOs in 1960's New York. And that is exactly what savvy, ambitious Bernadette Swift plans to change.

Bernadette Swift, a young copyeditor at Lenox & Park Publishing, is determined to become the first female CEO in the publishing industry. But first she needs to take the next step up that ladder with a promotion that her boorish and sexist boss wants to thwart. Seeking a base of support, Bernadette joins a feminist women's book club at the New York Public Library, and soon, she's inspiring her fellow members to challenge the male gatekeepers and decades of ingrained sexism in their workplaces and pursue their personal and professional dreams.

And that is precisely what Bernedette does on a daily basis: keeps her eye on the prize--equality for women in the workplace, and a promotion--while fending off the ire of her boss and the sabotaging efforts of a jealous coworker. With the support of her book club buddies and a certain charismatic editor at Lenox & Park who has completely fallen for her, maybe, just maybe, Bernadette will prove able to claim victory for herself and the young women coming after her.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1464238235
• ISBN13: 9781464238239
• Release Date: June 2025
• Publisher: Sourcebooks Landmark
• Length: 400 Pages
• Weight: 0.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 5.5" x 8.2"

Customer Reviews

Emerging womens rights story in 1960s New York

Thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for a digital advance reader copy. All comments and opinions are my own unless otherwise noted. I couldn’t resist this book – the title, the cover, and the author! With a feminist women’s book club and the setting of New York in the early 1960s, this was a book I had to read. It pretty much lived up to its promises – with a likeable main character, a sweet romance, a workplace drama and a historic setting “about women’s rights, women’s importance in the workplace, women opening up and talking about things that they’ve never shared before as well as the importance of female friendships and building a community.” I think there will be plenty of readers who are young enough to be newly aware of the treatment of and attitude toward women during this time period – “the 1960s Equal Pay Act, the lack of maternity leave, being overlooked for promotions, and being told by their male counterparts that they didn’t belong.” I began to work in an office in the mid-1970s, and even though the National Organization of Women was then 10 years old, most women were as powerless as those in “Confessions.” In addition to the growth of women’s rights, I agreed with the emphasis that reading and book clubs create a bonding experience and a supportive community. If you liked “Lessons in Chemistry” and “The Book Club for Troublesome Women,” this is the book for you.