I did not care for this one; probably a mistake on my part when reading the description. I didn't mind the epistolary style, it was the subject matter that didn't grab me. I will go with three stars because this was my problem, not something with the story or writing.

Plot summary: Edna Sloane was a literary IT girl of the 80s. Her first book was a huge hit and she was a star of the literary scene. Then, on the day she was due to meet her editor to discuss her second book, she vanished, never to be seen again. Now, decades later, a rumour has emerged that Edna has been seen in in NYC. A young journalist, Seth, who works for one of those literary websites that pays extra for clicks, becomes obsessed with finding Edna. Can he track down this reclusive author, or is the story of what happened to her more sinister than it first sounds?

Thoughts: This book receives both four stars and two stars from me. It's an epistolary novel, which is a format I really enjoy. I also really enjoyed Part I, which details Seth's investigation. He is a really charming character and I enjoyed hanging out with him. However, for me the book gets a bit lost in Part II, which includes more voices than just Seth's. It felt me me like this section suffered from the epistolary format - it just got a bit long winded. And, no spoilers, but there was one voice in particular that I just didn't buy.

So, even though this did fully hit the mark for me, I liked it enough to definitely look up more books from this author.

Seth Edwards, an aspiring writer and editor, becomes obsessed with uncovering the story of Edna Sloane, a once-celebrated author who vanished from the public eye. This obsession leads him on a path filled with unexpected discoveries about Sloane, the literary world, and himself.

It’s a thoughtful and nuanced look at literary ambition, the search for creative authenticity, and the rediscovery of a forgotten literary star. I love an epistolary novel, and choosing modern epistolary formats (email, text, social media posts and comments) was clever. The way in which Seth’s voice changes depending on the forum and the audience is incredibly true to life. He might not even be aware of it, but Edna, that brilliant observer of humanity, points out:

“For your generation I imagine it is fragmented even further – who are you, Seth Edwards? The Facefriend profile? The ImmediaPix feed? Right? Or am I off-base. Robin says I overestimate the fragmentation of the modern self. Maybe I do, maybe ‘twas ever thus, it occurs to me, as I remember my mother’s voice changing whether she was on the phone with customer service, the secretary at the synagogue, my father, with her sister in Texas, her other sister in Tel Aviv – how I judged her for shifting so slitheringly between all these selves – no one is a harsher critic than a daughter.”

Other things I loved: Edna is a great and subtle feminist. Her experiences as a woman in the world of publishing, and delicate rendering of the conflict between mother/wife and artist were so well done. Additionally, a book about a book (pr any great work of art) makes me desperately wish I could experience that work of art myself (think: The Goldfinch, The Fault In Our Stars). That's just a wonderful added piece of texture.

The novel's strength lies in its ability to explore profound themes such as the meaning of success, the pressures of creative life, and the impact of our cultural obsession with 'the next big thing' on literature and creativity. 'Dear Edna Sloane' is a must-read for anyone fascinated by the world of literature, the creative process, and the timeless quest for meaning in art. It's a love letter to literature and a reminder of the power of stories to connect us to what truly matters."

It's a book about why books matter:

"Fiction makes the unsorted mass of life feel meaningful, as if there were some organizing principle to our days."

This book was over-the-top funny, first of all, and so creative. Anyone especially who has ever been involved in literary culture, as a student, in publishing, in teaching, or just an avid reader (especially one who has gone to a lot of author readings) will find something bone-chillingly familiar in the slapstick. The bird tracks were a little distracting but I imagine that they'll be lightened in print and ebook. It does really fun things with time and time stamps, as well as media: we get newspaper articles, emails, text messages, Facebook messages all of which really capture the super recent past as well as the 80s. Reminds me of Where'd Ya Go Bernadette (and some Nicholson Baker I read in college haha). Thank you Red Hen Press and NetGalley for this awesome ARC!

I didn't know what to expect going into this book, but I was invested right away and loved the format of correspondence.

Even though it was told through different kinds of correspondence I felt like we really got a sense of who Seth was in the way he interacted and corresponded.

I was invested all the way through in his quest to find Edna Sloane.

A delightful book and a love letter to literature, reading and finding out what really matters to you.

This was a slow burn! Written as a series of emails, text messages, and social media posts, we watch a young and hungry writer in NYC try to track down a famous author who vanished decades ago after releasing a best seller. Eventually, through these missives we learn more about both characters and their inner worlds, leading to deep and thought-provoking conversations on the purpose of creativity in a world that doesn't always spark inspiration. By the end, I cared about the characters and was happy to see the ways they changed and the things they discovered about themselves along the way.

I really enjoyed this book!! I’m not normally a reader who enjoys books with an unusual prose but the way that correspondence between characters was used to tell the story was genius. I think it made Seth such an enticing character, one who is incredibly relatable as he journeys to find himself. I also found the intrigue around Edna and her disappearance so suspenseful. I mostly loved the way that her story unearths so many narratives about feminism. Whilst I’m not a creative person at heart, I could feel the longing and creative resilience seeping through each passage.

It’s definitely a book that I’d recommend for creatively minded people and I will absolutely be recommending it to my loved ones. Thank you to Net Galley for the ARC!

The format was unusual because there was a cast of characters represented through their own writings, which made the perspective interesting. I didn't know where this was going, and it was interesting because people didn't act the way I expected them to. The ending was a surprise to me, but even though it was open and I don't usually like open endings, it was the perfect ending.
Thanks to NetGalley for letting me read this

i expected to love this book. from the outside it seemingly checks everything on my list. but there was something missing for me throughout.
i liked the plot and the writing for the most part. i can't pinpoint why i couldn't enjoy it more. it probably just isn't for me.

What an enjoyable book! The story is told through correspondences, texts and documents. Shearn's characters are complex, and her writing shines on every page. To say much about the plot might give away its mysteries so I would recommend readers go into it blind. Highly recommended for artists and creative souls. Thank to NetGalley for the ARC. #DearEdnaSloane #NetGalley

I’m a fan of epistolary novels so seeing this was one, I was immediately attracted. The added bonus is it’s a mix of emails, actual letters and texts.

I really enjoyed the interplay between Seth, a young aspiring writer with a lower level job at a literary publication in NYC, and Edna Sloane, the titular author he is trying to find.

Shear.n strikes a nice balance between both characters revealing parts of themselves in the communications. And it was really enjoyable to see their relationship grow.

What is really fun, when done well, is how certain emails or letters would show just one side of the story leaving the reader to fill in the other side.

Well done, fast -paced, Entertaining.

At no point during this book did I know what was going to happen next and it was the most fun, yet inspiring book I've read. I loved Margo and Bodhi, I loved how no matter what life threw at her, she was a bright, young woman and could figure it out - with the help of others but also by herself. I LOVE THIS BOOK!

With thanks to Net Galley for the Advanced Reader Copy for review.
This one rates solidly at a 2.75 to 3 overall stars for me. A read you love on its surface, but struggle to like behind the scenes.
At times I felt like I was being forced to watch a manuscript reading by Amy Sherman Palladino after working a 12 hour shift with no remote sense left of why so many words were being used to convey a feeling or capture an essence - and an echoing thought of where is this going?
As the quote goes, this book truly gives “an infinity of traces without leaving an inventory”.

Thank you to NetGalley and Red Hen Press for an advanced reader copy of this book!

I absolutely adored this book. The way the story is told through correspondences and documents hooked me instantly. The two main characters are both so pulsatingly human: witty and gritty, ambitious and fearful, talented and flawed. I breezed through the first half of the book, fully invested in finding out what happened to Edna as well as what *will* happen to Seth. Although I reached a point maybe 80% through the book where I did agree with other reviews and thought "Okay, we've had enough long-winded letters, let's get to the resolution here," I don't think I would want any of them to be cut. I highlighted so much--long passages and glimmering little sentences alike--because I felt like both Seth and Edna were speaking directly to AND from my own soul as they tackled the big questions - like "How do I live a meaningful life?" and "Will I ever create anything worthwhile?"

This book is a must-read for any creative person. It speaks to the ambition, longing, doubt, and resilience of the creative mind in such a beautiful way, IMO. As a fellow artist mother, I especially appreciated Edna's commentary on the fragmentation of self and how her story illustrates that being a writer (or painter, poet, whatever) is a long haul game. Unlike other reviewers, I appreciated the ending because I know that disappearance is just temporary and that the best is yet to come.

I have a special love for epistolary literature, in that it requires you to read between the lines and intuit what’s not being stated on the page. I thought this book had an interesting hook: millennial magazine editor (Seth Edwards) tracking down a mysterious reclusive author (Edna Sloane) for an exposé article.

Plot: The framing of the story was interesting. In reviews and excerpts of Edna Sloane’s book, we learn that her main character, Ned, is obsessed with the mysterious Greta. This plot mirrored in Seth’s own search through the publishing world for Edna. Both stories paint the portrait of a disillusioned man obsessively searching for an idealized but misunderstood woman.

Format: I wish that the different formats (Reddit thread, email, etc.) affected how the characters wrote to each other. There’s very little difference in tone despite the wildly different types of recipients. The main character, Seth, writes to publishers in the same way he writes tweets. The lack of tonal differences is also present in how many of the side characters write. Specifically, there are no changes in punctuation, syntax, or style to indicate that these really are separate people writing. I wish that the background characters in this book were diversified to make the dialogue more realistic.

Ultimately, the story was interesting and I understood the direction the author wanted to take the plot in, but I felt that the writing could have been refined and the narrative could have been tightened to create a much more compelling novel. It has a lot of potential, but I think it deserves another round of editing.

This is a very interesting epistemological novel, since it combines the traditional format with long rumination and internal dialogue within the format of correspondence. It is the story of eager, young Seth, an internet journalist who becomes obsessed with a wonderkind author, Edna Sloane, and her mysterious disappearance.

The book takes the reader on a full circle from searching for Edna to building a mutual relationship to searching for Seth.

I especially loved Edna’s story. It amazed me to read about her so-called disappearance, only to learn the truth. It really is a feminist moment about marriage and motherhood. I especially loved the inclusion of Edna’s father, an Auschwitz survivor.

This is an interesting read, though it veers from the traditional epistemological exchange.

Thank you Netgalley for this opportunity.

This novel is inventive and fun while also being witty and smart. Within the epistolary style nuggets of humor and wisdom emerge. The author has a good grasp on the literary life, and I followed along with interest as Seth, a hungry young writer tries to "re-discover" Edna Sloane. I began to squirm as his true motivations became clearer. There's a lot of insight here and much to love.

Highly recommended for fans of WHERE"D YOU GO, BERNADETTE and similar witty literary fiction, especially for readers who enjoy an epistolary format. It would be a good selection for book clubs as I imagine opinions might vary since some readers have more patience for this type of slow burn story than others. Ultimately, I found it sophisticated and memorable.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the advance e-galley; all opinions in this review are 100% my own.

Rating this a 3.5 maybe 4 stars after sitting with it for a bit. Can’t tell if I actually like this book or not. The satire is so clever and some of the prose are so lyrical it makes you want to pick up a James Baldwin book immediately. Other parts feel like a fever dream…heavy on the fever.