A Hole in the Story: A Novel

Washington commentator Adam Zweig is drawn into a scandal when a journalist accuses a revered editor of sexual harassment, forcing him to confront his past, reevaluate his assumptions and reckon with the pervasive sexism in his industry.

A Lit Hub Most Anticipated Book of 2025

A Kirkus Starred Review

“A cunning writer with masterful timing and an outrageous sense of humor.”—Gary Shteyngart

An irreverent, darkly comic novel dissecting the misjudgments, hypocrisies, and occasional good motives that drive our politics and our journalism, as well as our most intimate personal relations. 

At his desk one day, prominent Washington commentator Adam Zweig receives a text message. “Btw want to give you a heads-up abt some breaking news,” it reads. “Call soonest.” These are the early rumblings of an eventual media storm generated by small-town reporter Valerie Iovine, who has gone public with her account of sexual harassment at the hands of esteemed editor and liberal icon Max Lieberthol. Twenty years have passed since the incident, and though Adam wasn’t directly involved, he quickly finds himself implicated and entangled, his career under imminent threat.

Adam has never forgotten his history with Valerie: as former colleagues, their workplace collaboration had gradually tipped into a mutual romantic attraction. Or so he believed. Confronted by the claims against his former boss and a growing awareness of rampant sexism in his industry, Adam, who had always thought of himself as progressive, is forced to challenge his own assumptions over the years. What once seemed incidental becomes sinister; what once seemed like a blundering encounter helped derail a young woman’s promising career.

Sly and ironic, A Hole in the Story explores one imperfect man’s dilemmas as he tries to keep his feet in a shifting moral landscape. 

• | Author: Ken Kalfus
• | Publisher: Milkweed Editions
• | Publication Date: May 15, 2025
• | Number of Pages:
• | Language:
• | Binding: Hardback
• | ISBN-13: 9781571315755
• | ISBN-10: 1571315756