2023’s “Killingly” by Katharine Beutner brought the dark academia vibes of “The Secret History” right to Mount Holyoke, as the book was inspired by the institution's own history. The following trio of books, centered around the Seven Sister colleges, includes recommendations for fans of the more cut and dry murder mystery, as well as those interested in the secrets hidden within the walls of higher education.
The 2024-25 academic year marks the tenth anniversary of transgender and gender-nonconforming inclusive admissions at Mount Holyoke College. In celebration, a number of events dedicated to the trans, gender-nonconforming and nonbinary community are happening around campus under the name TGNC10. Also held on campus this semester is a class on transgender literature taught by Visiting Assistant Lecturer in English Dr. Jude Hayward-Jansen. Although Hayward-Jansen’s class was not created with TGNC10 in mind, its course goals are in line with the project’s mission: uplifting trans voices and celebrating trans stories.
In June 2023, author Katharine Beutner published “Killingly,” a historical fiction novel set at Mount Holyoke College based on the real-life disappearance of Bertha Mellish in 1867. Mount Holyoke News has previously interviewed Beutner, and the author signed books at The Odyssey Bookshop during Reunion last year.
Author and activist Schuyler Bailar has answers to your questions about gender. With anti-trans bills proposed by legislators across the United States, discussions of gender identity are at the forefront of politics today. Bailar’s debut nonfiction, “He/She/They: How We Talk About Gender and Why It Matters,” breaks down society’s views on the topic and its importance to the present and the future.
Every year, Mount Holyoke College hosts an event to celebrate student poetry. “It's so exciting to get to share my work, and to meet all these great people from different universities and hear everyone's work,” Mount Holyoke contestant Aderet Fishbane ’25, said, speaking about the College’s 101st Annual Glascock Poetry Competition.
Glascock is traditionally composed of three events. The first event, on the afternoon of Friday the 29th, was a conversation with the judges of the contest: Jennifer Tamayo, Samuel Ace and Margaret Rhee, all poets and authors themselves. Attendees gathered in the Stimson Room on the sixth floor of the Williston Memorial Library to listen to the poets discuss topics ranging from the role of transformation in the judges’ work, their work with other media in connection to their poetry and to understand how they seek out community.
For 15 days, the Mount Holyoke College community lost online access to Odyssey Bookshop, the bookstore closest to its campus and one of the few businesses located in the Village Commons. Mount Holyoke News’ staff has followed this situation closely, even as both the problem and its eventual resolution appeared to be hidden from view.
The problem was first addressed in early February attempts to reach the Odyssey Bookshop’s website online would result in an error message displaying that connecting to the site had taken too long and had now timed out. This could be caused by any number of issues, such as poor connection to the internet — the site crashing — or the Odyssey site being down for maintenance by the store. Eventually, Odyssey Bookshop addressed the connectivity issue.
How does a small town end up with a body in a well? That is the question answered in the novel “The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store,” published on Aug. 8, 2023. In the book, author James McBride examines how a working-class community of Jewish and African American people are affected by antisemitism and racism from the white, Christian community around them in similar and different ways. McBride also explores how these groups might be able to bridge the divides between them.
The spy thriller novel “Argylle,” written under the pseudonym Elly Conway and released last month by Penguin Random House, has been a large talking point across both Bookstagram and general fan internet spaces. While the real writers of “Argylle” might not be Taylor Swift, to the chagrin of many fans, their names do begin with T. Sorry Swifties!
Photo courtesy of Glenn Francis via Wikimedia Commons.
Fans wonder if Swift is making a writing debut.
“Argylle” by Elly Conway is turning out to be the spy thriller of the month — and is also rumored to have been written by Taylor Swift.
While the claim is, as of now, unsubstantiated, there is definitely something strange afoot with the novel. Production for the film adaptation of the novel has been in the works since 2021 under director Matthew Vaughn, perhaps best known for directing, writing and producing the “Kingsman” franchise of which “Argylle” is now a part. “Argylle” is set to be released by Penguin Random House in January 2024, with a film adaptation starring Henry Cavill and Bryce Dallas Howard releasing in theaters and on Apple TV in February.
While publishers purchasing the rights to a novel before the book is released is not unheard of, it is unprecedented for a book and its movie adaptation to be released within a month of each other. The unusual circumstances around the book’s release and the mysterious identity of its author have sent some Taylor Swift fans, or “Swifties,” sniffing to see if the thriller was actually penned by the international pop star.
Some traits that “Argylle” has are uncharacteristic of a debut novel, fueling the fire of some Taylor Swift fans’ theory. For example, every synopsis available is only a few sentences long and gives little information about the actual plot. The book is said to follow Special Agent Argylle, who is sent out by the CIA’s spymaster to stop a Russian magnate from bringing the world to the brink of war. There are no further details about the novel itself.
Another somewhat suspicious thing is the lack of Advanced Reader Copies available. ARCs are a valuable resource when it comes to marketing a book before publication, and many debut authors utilize them to promote their books. They allow early readers and reviewers to get a sense of the novel and to share what they did and didn’t enjoy with other potential readers.
There do not appear to be any ARC copies of “Argylle” out in the world, nor was the novel ever listed on some of the most popular digital ARC sites, such as Netgalley. On Goodreads, there is one ongoing giveaway for a print copy and six ratings from small and/or blank accounts, but no actual reviews.
With Conway being a debut author, audiences are quite suspicious. Little is known about Conway herself, and while using a pseudonym is not uncommon for authors, her mysterious identity is what lays the groundwork for speculation.
This isn’t the first rumor that has claimed the singer is connected to writing a book. Earlier this year, there was speculation that a then-untitled Flatiron nonfiction release was going to be Taylor Swift’s memoir — again based on limited facts and speculation, the primary one being the release date, June 13. The $45 book was actually about BTS, much to the disappointment of Swift fans who had placed preorders.
A cursory glance at Conway’s Instagram page shows comment after comment from Swift fans speculating about the writer’s true identity. Conway’s feed shows content about the movie and limited information about the book, which, for a debut author, is quite rare. The majority of debut authors have multiple posts discussing their upcoming books and encouraging preorders — but Conway does not.
The extent of Conway’s talking about the book is the sentence in her bio: “Argylle, debut novel coming soon.” This sentence is followed by a link showing the casting of Cavill as Argylle. There is also Conway’s first-ever post, from December 2022, showing the book cover alongside the caption “#Argylle, coming summer 2023.” This release date has evidently been pushed, but that is not unusual.
It seems that the theory in favor of Taylor’s connection to “Argylle” is about the movie rather than anything specific to the book. Fans just assume that Swift and “Argyle” are connected because of some associations between the two. On Sept. 28, 2023, Conway made a post showing the trailer for the movie and thanking Vaughn for bringing the story to life. It was not long until Swifties came with the rumors. User gabriela.ajmaza said, “All Too Well, writer, red hair. Familiar?” referencing Howard’s character in the clip, who is a writer with red hair, similar to Sadie Sink, who plays one of the main characters in Swift’s “All Too Well” short film.
This theory is only scratching the surface. On Oct. 25, right before the release of “1989: Taylor’s Version,” Instagram user alex_the_owl_2.5 made another inference: “Here's another connection I've found. In this picture there are two people wearing blue and black respectively. ... On the other hand, Taylor Swift posted ‘aquamarine/Moonlit swimming pool/ what if/all I need is you’ on her [Instagram] story ... These lines are also written in blue and black.” But none of this points in the direction of the artist writing the novel. While Conway’s character could be inspired by Taylor, that doesn’t mean Taylor contributed anything to the project.
Needless to say, fans would be ecstatic if the rumor turned out to be true. Swift’s impact, even at a small school like Mount Holyoke College, is quite apparent around campus, from seeing people dressed up as her for Halloween to screenings of “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour” film at Tower Theaters.
Currently, there is not much to know about this story until the book and movie are released. Until then, the Swifties have as much stake in the game as anyone. “Argylle: A Novel” by Elly Conway is out from Penguin Random House on Jan. 9, 2024.
