1. Sample Book Project Summary
Submitted by Stacey Spencer
Class of 2013
The Bookman's Wake
John Dunning
Scribner
New York
1995
Number of Page: 351
Characters Clydell Slater, Millie, Cliff Janeway, Eleanor Rigby, Charles and Jonelle Jeffordses, Pruitt, Amy,
Crystal, Mr. Rigby, Moon, Otto, Trisha
Chapter Summaries
Chapter 1: Cliff is busy working in his office when Millie, his secretary, tells him an old friend has arrived.
Clydell Slater, a washed out cop gone PI walks into Cliffs back office and begins to tell Cliff about a job he
needs help with. Cliff has already decided to turn him down when Slater mentions a rare book. Cliff is the
owner of a book store, and has a love for rare books, not to sell, just for the chase of catching rare written art.
After some work from Slater, Cliff is convinced to take the job tracking down a rare copy of Edger Allen Poe's
The Raven. The catch is, a thief stole the book; Cliff is put in charge of picking her up, making a citizen’s arrest
and identifying the book as authentic.
Chapter 2: Slater schedules Cliff's transportation to pick up Eleanor and recover the book. There is some
speculation on what year the specific book was published. If Slater is right about the year, the book is worth a
lot more then original thought.
Chapter 3: Cliff looks into the book and printer a little more to see if he missed anything.
He finds that the original press house was burned down and that stopped production. He then explains what
makes books so valuable and how different versions can be told apart.
Chapter 4: Cliff flies to Seattle and meets with one of Slater's friends before going to find Eleanor. His name is
Pruitt. Cliff and Pruitt don't get along but Cliff had a job to do, so after a small argument they get down to
finding the thief. Cliff goes into the bar they followed Eleanor to and tries to plot his arrest. He decided to give
her a flat tire while she was busy and then come to her rescue.
Chapter 5: Cliff fixes her tire, gives her spare a flat and offers to drive her where ever she's going. After
thinking about it, she agrees and he drives her home. They talk during the ride and he finds out that her dad
worked with the Grayson brothers, the ones that published the book she stole. Her dad still prints books.
Chapter 6: Cliff drove her home; she seems hesitant to go home. Eleanor says she has done some things she isn't
proud of. She has him come in with her. Her family was extremely happy to see her and thanks Cliff by asking
him to stay the night. He ends up sleeping above the original printing press.
Chapter 7: Cliff explored the printing shop. He found hundreds of letters used to print books. He wondered
around marveling at everything left in the shop.
Chapter 8: He has dinner with the family and really starts to like them. He starts thinking about how much he
would like living with them and maybe exploring the printing press more.
ETC -- chapters continue