What do publishing and fashion have in common? A crazy calendar! I was astounded yesterday to see that Target has ‘Back to School’ signs up only two weeks after school has ended. And while the fashion cycle is more inconvenient for consumers, the publishing calendar still manages to unsettle me after 20+ years in the business.

So now that July 4th has come and gone, it means that I am settling down with a brand new crop of manuscripts that will be published in 2010. I’ve taken just one walk on the beach so far this year, but in my professional reading life, it’s next January.

So I took a little literary vacation this past weekend before diving into a new year — I read a novel purely for pleasure. It’s not published by Random House, and is not in any way affiliated with my professional activities. It’s a book that I first heard about on Twitter. And it’s a book that took my breath away.

Last Night in Montreal is the kind of novel that you want to read in one sitting. I made the mistake of starting it late at night, so it took me two sessions to finish. It’s the kind of book that grabs you from the first chapter, and you know immediately that the rest of the day is spoken for. You want to cancel your plans, let the family forage for food, order takeout for dinner.

Author Emily Mandel opens the novel with Eli, who is telling the story of his girlfriend’s disappearance. Lilia awoke one morning, showered, and went out to get the newspaper–and then never returned. It feels incredibly intimate in the telling, and I felt the heartbreak come through in a way that usually happens after I’ve “known” a character through hundreds of pages.

I don’t want to say too much, because when I picked up the book, I had no idea what it was about. I’m not sure if knowing would have slanted my perception, so I’m going to just dance around the plot, which is wholly original, and surprising, and tightly constructed. But Mandel’s writing is the true star. It’s literary but accessible, precise and yet not at all cold. I described the opening as intimate, and it’s the word that keeps popping back into my mind as I think about the novel. The other word I have settled on is “haunting.”

My literary vacation was a success. I am now prepared to discover the gems of Random House 2010, but I know that I will keep flashing back to moments in Last Night in Montreal. If you’re in search of a short, powerful, and beautifully-crafted novel, don’t hesitate to pick this one up.
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