Younger meets Writers and Lovers in this rollicking, sparkling, and funny romantic comedy that spans decades and generations of family in the publishing industry.

In the post-pandemic publishing industry, two rival editors are forced to share a “hot desk” on different days of the week, much to their chagrin. Having never set eyes on each other, they begin leaving passive-aggressive Post-it notes on the pot of their shared (and reviled) cactus. But when revered literary legend Edward David Adams (known as “the Lion”) dies, leaving his estate up for grabs, their banter escalates as both work feverishly to land this career-making opportunity. Their fierce rivalry ultimately forces them to make decisions about what role they want to play in the Lion’s legacy, as well as in each other’s lives.

As their battle for the estate gets more heated, we go back in time and are introduced to Jane and Rose, two strong, talented best friends trying to make a mark of their own in the publishing world of 1980s New York at a time when art, the written word, and creative expression were at their height and nearly within reach. But one fateful day during the blizzard of April 1982 will change the course of one of their lives forever…

Set in both the nostalgic and electric vibrancy of 1980s Manhattan and present-day New York’s offices and town homes, Hot Desk is a funny, sexy, unexpectedly moving novel that weaves a contemporary workplace romance with a gripping historical narrative and tackles important questions about appropriation, sexism, and who has the right to tell their story.

Laura Dickerman has an MA in fiction from NYU and an MA in English from Middlebury College’s Bread Loaf School of English. She has taught high school English at the Hopkins School, the Collegiate School, and Germantown Friends. She was an intern at The Paris Review many, many years ago. At her lowest point, she spent a month temping for her youngest brother who was critical of her copying skills. She’s been a book club leader, tutor, and recipient of an NEH grant. She lives in Atlanta with her husband. They have two grown daughters. Hot Desk is her first novel.

Photo by Sophie Jacobson