Fay writes to Alice, her eighteen-year-old niece. Alice has dyed her hair green and black at college where she studies literature. Alice doesn't like reading, so Fay sets about to convince her to read Jane Austen. She invents a metaphor, the imaginary City of Invention. The city is comprised of readers and authors who live in neighborhoods that different according to style and fashion. She has belonged there herself since childhood, having loved novels since youth. She invites Alice to try a Jane Austen novel so they could be neighbors.
Although some of Austen's work can be tedious or laborious, Fay tells Alice that it is only that way because of its elegance and sophistication. She explains that underneath the polite façade, Austen is secretly a passionate voice for reason and clarity. In a letter, Fay explains that Alice's mother does not want Alice to read Austen because she is worried that Alice will become a feminist like Fay. She continues to argue for Austen, explaining the context for Austen's literature. Austen was the daughter of a pastor, it seems, who was privileged, but tightly repressed.
She explains how Austen's literature is the right of all women who live in communities that repress women. She praises Austen's imagination and clarity, while also remembering that a person could interpret Austen's literature in many ways—the works are flexible and open to interpretation. Fay is a writer herself, and Alice wants to become one, so Fay gives her some advice and reflects on her life as an artist. She writes one letter to Enid, assuring her that Alice will not be ruined or corrupted by reading Jane Austen.
Fay ends her letter by encouraging Alice to write her novel. She tells Alice to brace herself for the long emotional journey of authoring a manuscript and then sharing it with the world. She tells Alice to think for herself, and to adopt only the advice that suits her—she doesn't want to tell Alice what to write or how to think, but merely wants to share her own opinions. When Alice fails out of school, Fay offers to support her in whatever way Alice chooses. Alice publishes her book and becomes famous. They discuss feminism and immortality.
