Jessica Harper Uncanceled

A couple of years ago it occurred to me that there weren’t any ANTI-woke novels.

I mean… none.

Your only choice is fiction that is woke (stupid word but that’s for another day) or not actually pro-woke. But a novel that is actively anti-woke just doesn’t exist.

What is scary is that we have now got to the stage where propaganda in the media and literature for social causes is accepted. The deluge of wokery has been so huge in the past few years that we may roll our eyes at the latest black heroine on Netflix or “strong women” shaming ridiculous men in drama series (enough already) but we’re not surprised.

So. I pictured a chick-lit cover with a woman striding towards us, maybe flanked by some shocked friends. She would be a classic chick-lit figure: chaotic, outspoken and in this case not going to take the shit any more. And a big title: Maggie Steedman is Not Woke. Maybe she blurted this phrase out at a dinner party and then faced the fallout over the rest of the novel. I liked the idea of it. I wanted to write it.

To cut a long story short, I have.

Maggie Steedman is now me, Jessica Harper, and Jessica Harper Is Not Woke will be published on August 1 2023. It is a comic novel filled with colourful characters such as the staff of woke bookshop Chapter and Voice (what is about lefties and ‘voices’?), Luther the conspiracy theory cabbie, my best friend April Meadows, local patriarchal media magnate Porter Montrose, leader of the school’s woke moms Kayla Cobb and the crew of misfit journalists at the magazine I go to run after losing my comms job following an anti-woke tirade.

I think it’s a funny read, I hope it’s a very funny read, but that’s for others to say. But what is for certain is that I am excited about using my new blog to continue the story, which will also continue in book form next spring in what is provisionally titled Panic On The Fourth of July.

Until next time – and thanks so much for reading my first post! I really appreciate it.

J x