It is Jane's last chance at making tenure at her university. Her teaching load has been tenure track and she's taking her sabbatical to finish her second novel that will guarantee her that job for life. She has been working on this book, a fictional history of mulattos, for almost ten years, but finally has a quiet study area in which to complete it. Unfortunately her living arrangement is only temporary, as it has been all during her married life. Mimicking her white mom and black father who disdained wealth over intellectual freedom, Jane and her husband, an unsuccessful artist, don't have enough money to buy a house for themselves and their two children. They are presently babysitting a scriptwriter friend's LA house for the year, as he and his family work overseas, but time is running out.
Jane is thrilled when she finally finishes her novel, a few months before her friend is due to return. She happily submits it to her agent who gives it a thumbs up and passes it on to her publisher. But Jane is suspicious-did her agent really read the book-after all, it was a dense 500 page tome. She soon gets her answer-the publisher rejected it and basically told her to burn it. Distraught, she finds a card belonging to her scriptwriter friend's agent and steals his idea of a comedy tv show about mixed race adults. She pitches his agent, who connects Jane with a black Hollywood producer who is very interested in "her" idea...and so the book begins.
Senna takes her readers on a wild ride through development hell as we watch her heroine run fast to make the best of a bad situation. By covering financial problems, family stress, race relations, and competition in higher education, the author has given herself a gigantic assignment. I would certainly grant her tenure for this one.
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