Hazel-May McCall—Vera Parini

Hazel-May McCall’s relationship with Vera Parini develops through editorial attention that is informal in manner but consequential in a workplace where access to senior editors matters. Vera shares books with Hazel, discusses a manuscript with her at length, and invites her opinions; Hazel, in turn, actively seeks conversation and responds with enthusiasm. Their growing ease is observed by Nella Rogers, whose uncertainty about her own standing makes each invitation and closed-door discussion feel like evidence in an unsettled comparison. The relationship therefore carries two perspectives at once: a budding editorial connection between Vera and Hazel, and Nella’s anxious reading of what that connection may mean for her.

A Connection Formed Through Editorial Attention

Hazel’s approach to Vera is partly shaped by advice she has received from Nella: ask other editors what they are reading and learn their tastes. At the end of a workday, Hazel follows that advice and asks Vera about her reading. Vera offers to send her a book that has arrived that afternoon, then sends it at eleven that night. Hazel recounts the exchange the next day, wondering whether Vera is the sort of editor who works around the clock. The late message establishes a concrete point of contact between them, though it does not by itself show whether Vera intends the book as instruction, an invitation to collaborate, or simply a recommendation.

Hazel does not wait passively for the connection to deepen. When Vera appears to have time, Hazel heads to her office with a notepad and news about the Leslie Howard book. Before going in, she looks directly at Nella, who expects an apologetic or self-effacing gesture. Hazel instead enters with confidence, praising the book and saying she is eager for Vera to read it. Her enthusiasm is professional as well as social: she brings a specific response to a text and asks for a few minutes to discuss it.

Shared Reading and a Growing Editorial Exchange

The clearest measure of Vera and Hazel’s rapport comes when Hazel spends roughly sixty-eight minutes in Vera’s office discussing The Lie. Nella, who has been keeping close track of workplace interactions, experiences the long meeting as a source of anxiety. She finishes the large bag of pretzels she has saved for the month’s afternoon snacks while waiting for the office door to open. The duration matters not because it proves what Vera intends, but because it makes the difference in access visible to Nella: a conversation that extends well beyond a brief check-in is unfolding behind a closed door.

When Hazel emerges, manuscript pages askew, she thanks Vera for what she calls a wonderful conversation. Vera replies warmly, thanks Hazel for reading the manuscript so quickly, and says she would like to hear Hazel’s thoughts when she finishes. Their exchange moves beyond a one-time favor: Vera leaves open a further discussion, and Hazel proposes lunch or coffee the following day or Friday. Vera’s fond, animated manner toward Hazel strikes Nella as unlike the attention she has received from her boss. The scene presents editorial mentorship less as a formal lesson than as time, invitation, and the chance to keep contributing to a conversation.

Hazel’s contact with The Lie also complicates Nella’s interpretation of the arrangement. When Hazel asks whether Vera has sent the manuscript to Nella, she appears genuinely concerned rather than triumphant. Hazel explains that Vera first thanked her for weighing in and then emailed her a draft for a second opinion. Nella is irritated that Vera has sought Hazel’s judgment, but recognizes that being asked may also mean Vera took Nella’s earlier comments seriously. Hazel says she thinks Richard Wagner asked Vera to give her work so she would not be bored, since she is new and Maisy Glendower has been occupied with personal matters. That explanation is Hazel’s understanding, not confirmation of Vera’s motives; it nevertheless places the exchange within a workplace where assignments and access are shaped by more than the quality of one conversation.

Nella’s View of the Relationship

Nella’s observations make the Vera–Hazel connection inseparable from her own precarious sense of belonging. She remembers the nervousness surrounding her interview with Vera: she had worried about the two of them having no chemistry and about the hierarchy, homogeneity, and rigidity she associated with a Manhattan office. She had previously worked behind bars and coffee counters, where she encountered people from many occupations and could dress as she pleased. For the interview, she chose conservative clothes and practical flats, carrying a tote from the Brooklyn Book Festival as a small personal accent. Vera had later described Nella’s literary tastes as raw, bold, and unique, and said they were part of why she hired her. That history gives Nella reason to feel that Vera once recognized something distinctive in her, making Hazel’s new access harder to read as merely routine.

Nella also works in an environment where racial identity complicates the meaning of recognition. She recalls overhearing employees complain that diversity initiatives would force Wagner Books to hire unqualified nonwhite people. At other times, colleagues treat her as an exception whose qualifications supposedly set her apart from Black identity, a response that can spare her unwanted requests for sensitivity reads but can also feel like a denial of who she is. That context does not establish that Vera favors Hazel because of race, nor does it settle what either woman intends. It does explain why Nella experiences editorial attention as more than a neutral distribution of tasks: being seen, consulted, or passed over carries personal and professional weight.

Nella’s suspicions intensify when she wonders whether Vera is using the two junior women to keep one another alert. Yet Hazel’s concern about whether Nella has received The Lie, and Nella’s own acknowledgment that Vera may have valued her input, resist a simple account of Hazel as an antagonist. The evidence supports a relationship between Hazel and Vera marked by genuine professional exchange, while leaving Vera’s larger purpose ambiguous. Nella’s interpretation shifts between recognizing a real opportunity for Hazel and fearing that it signals a loss of closeness with Vera.

Access, Opportunity, and What Remains Unsettled

The contrast becomes especially sharp when Hazel goes to Vera’s office just as Nella is planning to ask about the Leslie Howard book. Nella has decided to raise the subject in their usual morning catch-up, perhaps by asking what she should move to the front of her reading pile. Hazel, notepad in hand, reaches Vera first. She pauses to look at Nella, then enters without offering the apology Nella expects. From Nella’s desk, Hazel’s energetic praise and Vera’s cheerful invitation are audible; Nella hears a tone from Vera that she cannot remember receiving recently. The encounter turns ordinary office gestures—a pause at a doorway, a meeting, an invitation to continue—into a painful measure of comparative access.

Later, when Richard Wagner offers Nella a role on Jesse Watson’s project, he says Hazel should have an opportunity as well because she introduced them to him. This later moment shows Hazel’s access extending beyond conversations about books and into a separate professional opportunity. It does not establish that Vera arranged the role or that the opportunity resulted from Vera’s mentorship. Rather, it clarifies the broader stakes of the relationship as Nella sees them: Hazel is acquiring visibility and chances to contribute, while Nella is still trying to determine where she stands with the people who control assignments.

Vera and Hazel’s connection is thus defined by concrete acts of editorial attention but not by a fully stated agreement or formal mentoring arrangement. Vera sends reading, asks for Hazel’s response, welcomes a long discussion, and leaves room for another meeting; Hazel answers with initiative, enthusiasm, and sustained engagement. Nella’s perspective gives these acts their tension without proving that Vera means to set the women against each other. What remains unresolved is precisely the point: professional intimacy is visible, but its promise, limits, and consequences are still being interpreted from outside the office door.