Who Is Maud Dixon?" 's protagonist Florence Darrow has disdain for "fireside happiness". In other words, she values glory over comfort. This is why she leaves her banal life and strangely cold (yet exuberant) mother behind in Florida in pursuit of becoming a novelist in New York City. But she has writers block ever since arriving. Working as an editorial assistant at a publishing house, Florence is unable to get a foothold on her dream life.
In a foreshadowing thought, Florence reflects on how she often feels immune to communal indignation about current events. Instead, she reserves her anger for more personal issues. As a result, Florence regularly feels like she's on the outside of everything. Maybe because of this feeling, she finds herself in an affair with a married senior staff member at her workplace. Florence decides to use that power over him as blackmail to get her writing published. It doesn't work; but it does get her fired. Florence then lands a job as an assistant to a famous author that works under a pen name: Maud Dixon.
Although she is thrilled to have been hired, Florence is legally bound to keep her new boss's identity, and the job, secret. This seems unfair - Florence sees her new boss as a mentor and someone to be emulated. But Maud Dixon tells her that fairness isn't always the goal, rather it's greatness. She is also advised that there's real power in being an outsider because one can see things more clearly. Foreshadowing abounds!
The two soon embark on a trip to Morocco for research purposes. Florence's boss tells her that in writing, the important thing is to have momentum because mistakes can be rewritten. This is a metaphor for the plot and the characters of this novel as both become increasingly diabolical. Florence's mother's fervor had taught her early on to build dark rooms inside herself where she could be alone and free of scrutiny; this will prove to be useful for Florence in what's to come. Alexandra Andrews's sets up her enigmatic main character to compel this twisty novel into rapid page-turning territory. I give this book a 5/5!
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