From the Publisher
Laudable... A fresh addition to the library of fiction about tortured literati.”
—The New York Times
“Writers love books about writers—I know. But The Mythmakers isn’t just another novel about novelists—or journalists, for that matter, though our anti-hero of sorts, Sal, is a painfully relatable New York City transplant trying to make it in magazines...which we very quickly realize isn’t going as well as she hoped. Who hasn’t been there?
The “real” story, however, isn’t necessarily about Sal. It’s about the stories and story-tellers she seeks out after the fact. You’ll fall in love with each and every one of them along the way, and even start to root for Sal, a woman protagonist who dares to be unlikeable, as her steadfast and even stubborn persistence leads her to a tangled (yet touching!) web of tales that she—and the reader—could have never expected.” —Danielle Sinay, Glamour, “Glamour’s Best Books of 2023”
"In Weir’s clever debut novel, a newly unemployed writer recognizes herself in a story by a semi-notable, now-dead writer in an important magazine. Her quest for his motivation and “truth”leads to personal and professional turmoil."
—New York Times Book Review (Editor's Choice)
“Keziah Weir's debut novel takes an age-old literary question—is this fiction actually based off reality?—and twists it into a compelling story about art, perspective, and the line between inspiration and transgression. The Mythmakers isn't from the perspective of a novelist, though: It begins with a down-on-her-luck journalist who recognizes herself in a short story by an acclaimed, and recently deceased, author.” —Harper's Bazaar, The 45 Best New Books of 2023 You Won’t Put Down
“The novel gathers complexity and momentum as the voices of multiple narrators speed toward a cluster of climaxes, each one complicating the last.”
—Vogue
“The Mythmakers asks how and why we remember the stories we do and who gets to tell them.”
—Shondaland, The Best Books to Read for Summer
“This is a page-turner that raises big questions about memory, truth, and who really owns a narrative.”
—The Skimm, 17 of Our Favorite Books Coming Out this Summer
"In Keziah Weir’s controlled, tense debut novel, a floundering young journalist reads an excerpt from a book by a successful novelist — and it’s about her! The Mythmakers follows her as she untangles her long-ago meeting with the author and tries to understand his life, asking all the while, 'who gets to tell a story?'"
—Bustle
“The Mythmakers is a smart, compelling novel, one which seems to change shape the further one reads, which serves to question the very act — and beliefs — of reading and writing."
—Toronto Star
"A thoughtful [debut] about what it means to make, and remake, a self."
—Kirkus Reviews
"Engrossing... [An] auspicious debut."
—Publisher's Weekly
"A compelling story about art, perspective, and the line between inspiration and transgression."
—Harper's Bazaar, The 24 Best New Books of 2023
"In The Mythmakers, Keziah Weir has written a quiet, ‘revelatory’ first novel."
—Portland Press Herald
"A meditation on art and memory, a twisty literary mystery, and the story of a young woman's emergence into her true self, The Mythmakers is full of surprise and delight."
—Dani Shapiro, New York Times best-selling author of Inheritance and Signal Fires
"Every once in a while, a novel appears that grips you and confides in you as an old friend would. Keziah Weir’s The Mythmakers is not only a love letter to the mysteries that bind us, but it’s also a remarkable portrayal of how we move forward, stumble, get up again and rebuild our lives when we need to the most. Suspenseful, elegant, so full of life and the ghosts we carry, this is, quite simply, beautiful storytelling."
—Paul Yoon, author of Run Me to Earth
“A novel about ambition—art-making, self-making—and the ways in which, when questions of gender and desire and love enter the scene, lies and truths can tangle as intricately as the links of a fine necklace. THE MYTHMAKERS glitters with suspense, and it held me rapt. Keziah Weir has arrived.”
—Clare Beams, author of The Illness Lesson
“Keziah Weir’s THE MYTHMAKERS is a wildly inventive, thought-provoking page-turner filled with luminous language and resonant characters. It tackles the weightiest of subjects—love, art, inspiration, death—with grace and wit. This is the rare novel that will stay with me for a very, very long time."
—Tara Conklin, NYTimes-bestselling author of The Last Romantics
“Laudable... A fresh addition to the library of fiction about tortured literati.”
—The New York Times
“Writers love books about writers—I know. But The Mythmakers isn’t just another novel about novelists—or journalists, for that matter, though our anti-hero of sorts, Sal, is a painfully relatable New York City transplant trying to make it in magazines...which we very quickly realize isn’t going as well as she hoped. Who hasn’t been there?
The “real” story, however, isn’t necessarily about Sal. It’s about the stories and story-tellers she seeks out after the fact. You’ll fall in love with each and every one of them along the way, and even start to root for Sal, a woman protagonist who dares to be unlikeable, as her steadfast and even stubborn persistence leads her to a tangled (yet touching!) web of tales that she—and the reader—could have never expected.” —Danielle Sinay, Glamour, “Glamour’s Best Books of 2023”
"In Weir’s clever debut novel, a newly unemployed writer recognizes herself in a story by a semi-notable, now-dead writer in an important magazine. Her quest for his motivation and “truth”leads to personal and professional turmoil."
—New York Times Book Review (Editor's Choice)
“Keziah Weir's debut novel takes an age-old literary question—is this fiction actually based off reality?—and twists it into a compelling story about art, perspective, and the line between inspiration and transgression. The Mythmakers isn't from the perspective of a novelist, though: It begins with a down-on-her-luck journalist who recognizes herself in a short story by an acclaimed, and recently deceased, author.” —Harper's Bazaar, The 45 Best New Books of 2023 You Won’t Put Down
“The novel gathers complexity and momentum as the voices of multiple narrators speed toward a cluster of climaxes, each one complicating the last.”
—Vogue
“The Mythmakers asks how and why we remember the stories we do and who gets to tell them.”
—Shondaland, The Best Books to Read for Summer
“This is a page-turner that raises big questions about memory, truth, and who really owns a narrative.”
—The Skimm, 17 of Our Favorite Books Coming Out this Summer
"In Keziah Weir’s controlled, tense debut novel, a floundering young journalist reads an excerpt from a book by a successful novelist — and it’s about her! The Mythmakers follows her as she untangles her long-ago meeting with the author and tries to understand his life, asking all the while, 'who gets to tell a story?'"
—Bustle
“The Mythmakers is a smart, compelling novel, one which seems to change shape the further one reads, which serves to question the very act — and beliefs — of reading and writing."
—Toronto Star
"A thoughtful [debut] about what it means to make, and remake, a self."
—Kirkus Reviews
"Engrossing... [An] auspicious debut."
—Publisher's Weekly
"A compelling story about art, perspective, and the line between inspiration and transgression."
—Harper's Bazaar, The 24 Best New Books of 2023
"In The Mythmakers, Keziah Weir has written a quiet, ‘revelatory’ first novel."
—Portland Press Herald
"A meditation on art and memory, a twisty literary mystery, and the story of a young woman's emergence into her true self, The Mythmakers is full of surprise and delight."
—Dani Shapiro, New York Times best-selling author of Inheritance and Signal Fires
"Every once in a while, a novel appears that grips you and confides in you as an old friend would. Keziah Weir’s The Mythmakers is not only a love letter to the mysteries that bind us, but it’s also a remarkable portrayal of how we move forward, stumble, get up again and rebuild our lives when we need to the most. Suspenseful, elegant, so full of life and the ghosts we carry, this is, quite simply, beautiful storytelling."
—Paul Yoon, author of Run Me to Earth
“A novel about ambition—art-making, self-making—and the ways in which, when questions of gender and desire and love enter the scene, lies and truths can tangle as intricately as the links of a fine necklace. THE MYTHMAKERS glitters with suspense, and it held me rapt. Keziah Weir has arrived.”
—Clare Beams, author of The Illness Lesson
“Keziah Weir’s THE MYTHMAKERS is a wildly inventive, thought-provoking page-turner filled with luminous language and resonant characters. It tackles the weightiest of subjects—love, art, inspiration, death—with grace and wit. This is the rare novel that will stay with me for a very, very long time."
—Tara Conklin, NYTimes-bestselling author of The Last Romantics
“Laudable... A fresh addition to the library of fiction about tortured literati.”
—The New York Times
“Writers love books about writers—I know. But The Mythmakers isn’t just another novel about novelists—or journalists, for that matter, though our anti-hero of sorts, Sal, is a painfully relatable New York City transplant trying to make it in magazines...which we very quickly realize isn’t going as well as she hoped. Who hasn’t been there?
The “real” story, however, isn’t necessarily about Sal. It’s about the stories and story-tellers she seeks out after the fact. You’ll fall in love with each and every one of them along the way, and even start to root for Sal, a woman protagonist who dares to be unlikeable, as her steadfast and even stubborn persistence leads her to a tangled (yet touching!) web of tales that she—and the reader—could have never expected.” —Danielle Sinay, Glamour, “Glamour’s Best Books of 2023”
"In Weir’s clever debut novel, a newly unemployed writer recognizes herself in a story by a semi-notable, now-dead writer in an important magazine. Her quest for his motivation and “truth”leads to personal and professional turmoil."
—New York Times Book Review (Editor's Choice)
“Keziah Weir's debut novel takes an age-old literary question—is this fiction actually based off reality?—and twists it into a compelling story about art, perspective, and the line between inspiration and transgression. The Mythmakers isn't from the perspective of a novelist, though: It begins with a down-on-her-luck journalist who recognizes herself in a short story by an acclaimed, and recently deceased, author.” —Harper's Bazaar, The 45 Best New Books of 2023 You Won’t Put Down
“The novel gathers complexity and momentum as the voices of multiple narrators speed toward a cluster of climaxes, each one complicating the last.”
—Vogue
“The Mythmakers asks how and why we remember the stories we do and who gets to tell them.”
—Shondaland, The Best Books to Read for Summer
“This is a page-turner that raises big questions about memory, truth, and who really owns a narrative.”
—The Skimm, 17 of Our Favorite Books Coming Out this Summer
"In Keziah Weir’s controlled, tense debut novel, a floundering young journalist reads an excerpt from a book by a successful novelist — and it’s about her! The Mythmakers follows her as she untangles her long-ago meeting with the author and tries to understand his life, asking all the while, 'who gets to tell a story?'"
—Bustle
“The Mythmakers is a smart, compelling novel, one which seems to change shape the further one reads, which serves to question the very act — and beliefs — of reading and writing."
—Toronto Star
"A thoughtful [debut] about what it means to make, and remake, a self."
—Kirkus Reviews
"Engrossing... [An] auspicious debut."
—Publisher's Weekly
"A compelling story about art, perspective, and the line between inspiration and transgression."
—Harper's Bazaar, The 24 Best New Books of 2023
"In The Mythmakers, Keziah Weir has written a quiet, ‘revelatory’ first novel."
—Portland Press Herald
"A meditation on art and memory, a twisty literary mystery, and the story of a young woman's emergence into her true self, The Mythmakers is full of surprise and delight."
—Dani Shapiro, New York Times best-selling author of Inheritance and Signal Fires
Kirkus Reviews
2023-03-14
A journalist reconstructs the history of a recently dead writer by stepping into the life he left behind.
Salale Cannon is an aspiring writer who lives with her boyfriend, Hugh, in New York City. After the publication of an admiring magazine profile about an elusive playwright, her subject is revealed to be a plagiarist and a scumbag and to have told big lies about his life—all of which Sal failed to uncover. Now unemployed and adrift, Sal stumbles across a short story by Martin Scott Keller, a much older writer she once hit it off with at a literary event. To her shock, Sal realizes this story is about her encounter with Martin and, to her greater shock, learns that Martin is dead. Sal becomes personally invested when she learns that this story may be part of a larger unpublished novel—has he written more about her?—and is professionally inspired to chase a new profile that could redeem her reputation and put her career back on track. After a fight with Hugh, Sal heads to upstate New York to meet with Martin’s widow, Moira, a theoretical physicist. Sal moves from interviewing Moira to spending her days at the widow’s home going through archives and reaching out to others in Martin’s life to piece together a portrait not just of the man and his work, but of the people, especially the women, who loved him. Beginning in Part 2 of the novel, Weir—herself an editor at Vanity Fair—alternates Sal’s story with chapters from the lives of Martin and his circle of family and friends, rippling further into the past as the tale unfolds. In this way, the novel itself is the result of Sal’s imaginative rebuilding of Martin’s world, though one that dissipates the psychological tension that builds during Sal’s chapters. It’s a testament to Sal that we want to stay with her more than we do.
A thoughtful, if meandering, debut about what it means to make, and remake, a self.
