Summary

In February, the Austen Prize judges included an unknown writer among their finalists – T. H. Haley. It didn’t get much notice because of political and labor issues. After the dust settled on these more pressing matters, there was more media focus on the Austen Prize. No first-time novelist had ever won the prize before. The shortest novel in the hundred year’s history of the award to be honored was twice as long “The Levels”. Tom was profiled in the Sunday Times.

Tom inexplicably changed his mind about writing fiction. He was writing a new novel, and it was coming along at quite a good pace. Max came by Serena’s desk and placed a small brown envelope on it. He told her in a quiet tone to look at it as soon as possible. The letter was from Max to Serena with...