This goes on. But our brainy editor continues to fight until at last, just to shut her up, they let her buy the book for a tiny advance. I got a lady detective who solves a murder as the Titanic sinks. Tony Hillerman was once rejected by an editor who said he might get somewhere if he'd lose all that crap about Indians. The brain knows all.
Word of mouth leads to huge sales and our editor is exalted above measure.
Papers are filled with articles about this breakaway book, this maverick of literary work, this Beloved, this Angela's Ashes, this Kitchen God's Wife, this Accidental Tourist. And publishing in its wisdom will thankfully take the profits and declare that this is an aberration, an exception, the rare work of genius that surpasses expectation. It never existed. There are only stories. Stories told well or badly.