Editing Fact and Fiction is a concise, practical guide for people interested in book publishing or already working as editors who want to learn more about the opportunities in various kinds of book editing. Writing in a lively, informal style, two editors with extensive experience in a wide variety of fields--fiction and nonfiction, trade and reference, academic and commercial publishing--explain what editors in different jobs really do. The authors take the reader step by step through the editing process, from manuscript to bound book. They discuss the principles of sound editing and provide many specific examples of how to--and how not to--edit copy. They also give examples of how to deal tactfully with authors and show when editorial restraint is the best intervention. Editing Fact and Fiction is a book to be read, not just referred to. It will be an indispensable guide for anyone thinking about a career in book publishing, a valuable resource for working editors who want to enlarge their knowledge, and a useful tool for senior editors training staff. Leslie T. Sharpe and Irene Gunther are both editors and writers. An experienced trade book editor, Leslie T. Sharpe teaches editing and writing at New York University and Columbia University. She is also a regular contributor to New York Newsday. Irene Gunther was a senior editor at Macmillan Publishing and has extensive experience in reference and college book editing. She is the author of a teenage biography and a contributor to various publications.

Editing Fact and Fiction is a concise, practical guide for people interested in book publishing or already working as editors who want to learn more about the opportunities in various kinds of book editing. Writing in a lively, informal style, two editors with extensive experience in a wide variety of fields--fiction and nonfiction, trade and reference, academic and commercial publishing--explain what editors in different jobs really do. The authors take the reader step by step through the editing process, from manuscript to bound book. They discuss the principles of sound editing and provide many specific examples of how to--and how not to--edit copy. They also give examples of how to deal tactfully with authors and show when editorial restraint is the best intervention. Editing Fact and Fiction is a book to be read, not just referred to. It will be an indispensable guide for anyone thinking about a career in book publishing, a valuable resource for working editors who want to enlarge their knowledge, and a useful tool for senior editors training staff. Leslie T. Sharpe and Irene Gunther are both editors and writers. An experienced trade book editor, Leslie T. Sharpe teaches editing and writing at New York University and Columbia University. She is also a regular contributor to New York Newsday. Irene Gunther was a senior editor at Macmillan Publishing and has extensive experience in reference and college book editing. She is the author of a teenage biography and a contributor to various publications.

Palestine, October 1946. In a convoy of trucks and rusting jeeps, nineteen young men and women drive down to the Negev desert under cover of night. Their mission: to create a Jewish settlement in defiance of the British rulers of Palestine. Working in frantic haste, they erect three primitive tin huts and surround them with a barbed wire fence. By the first light of dawn, Kibbutz Noam is born.

The story is told through the eyes of Hava Chira, an idealistic young English girl who has left a comfortable middle-class home to go to Palestine as a pioneer. Hava quickly learns the meaning of deprivation--living without running water or electricity or any comforts, virtually cut off from the outside world. In the first turbulent years, she experiences hardship, danger, excitement, even war-and develops a deep connection to her new community.

Threading through the novel is the story of Hava's passion for Amir, a handsome young Israeli resistance fighter who epitomizes her dream. At first she idealizes Amir, but as time goes on, she begins to have doubts-and is faced with an agonizing decision.