cut crosswise (about 1 large)

½ cup chopped celery (1 to 2 stalks), plus ¼ cup chopped leaves, for garnish

¼ teaspoon fine sea salt

¼ teaspoon dried chile flakes (optional)

1 cup good-quality hard cider

2 pounds mussels, cleaned

¾ cup fresh or frozen cranberries (do not thaw)

Freshly ground black pepper

1 lemon, cut into 6 wedges, for serving

SERVES 4 AS A STARTER, OR 2 AS A MAIN

* * *

To prepare the bulgur, add the water to a small heavy saucepan and bring to a boil. Stir in the bulgur, dried cranberries, olive oil, and salt and return to a boil. Decrease the heat to maintain a simmer, cover, and cook until the water is absorbed, 11 to 15 minutes. Remove from the heat, cover, and set aside to steam for 5 minutes. Tastehired by the novelist Henry James and goes to live near him in Rye in 1907.

Heyns draws James with an affectionate hand, as quirky and verbose and brilliant as we would wish, equal parts self-involved and kind. Frieda, who has writerly aspirations of her own, is a smart blend of the iconoclast and the conventional. Grateful to be freed of the banal, drudgery-filled life she had been destined for, Frieda focuses her energies on her tasks for Mr. James, eagerly observing his process at work. In her spare time, she takes solitary walks or bike rides, and occasionally — somewhat halfheartedly — works on her own writing.

Some of the novel’s most charming passages showcase Frieda and Mr. James in the dictation process, Frieda imagining she might guess the