’ThemomentIgotmyjobatViragoin1978IknewitwouldbealongtimebeforeIwouldleave.Icertainlywouldn’thavehadthebrazenhopethen-onlytwenty-fiveandveryrecentlynewtoBritain-thatIwouldeverbecomethePublisher,butIdidknowthatIhadfoundmyhome:wherebooks,ideas,politics,imagination,feminism,andbusinesswastheairwebreathed...’ABiteoftheAppleispart-memoir,parthistoryofVirago,andpartthoughtsonoverfortyyearsoffeministpublishing.Thisisthestoryofhowtheauthorsandstaffwho,drivenbypassion,convictionandexcitement,havemadeViragoPressoneofthemostimportantandinfluentialEnglish-languagepublishersintheworld.LennieGoodingshasbeenwiththeiconicpressfoundedbyCarmenCallilalmostsincethestart.Firstapublicistandthenforovertwentyyears,publisherandeditor,shehasworkedwithextraordinaryauthors:MargaretAtwood,MarilynneRobinson,SarahWaters,LindaGrant,NatashaWalter,NaomiWolfandMayaAngelouamongmanyothers.Viragohasbeenalife-changerforLennieGoodings-butcertainlynotonlyforher.FollowingthechronologyofthepressandtheenormousbreadthoftheViragotitlespublishedovertheseyears,shesetsherstoryinthecontextoffeminism,andseguesintothoughtsonediting,post-feminism,reading,breakingboundaries,andtheViragoModernClassics.Viragoliveswithinthetensionbetweenidealismandpragmatism;betweensisterhoodandcelebrity;betweenwatchingfeminismwaxandwaneatthesametimeasknowingsomanyofthebattlesarestilltobewon.Thisbookisabouthowitfelttobethere.ABiteoftheAppleisacelebrationofwriting,ofpublishing,andofreading.
