The Mystery behind the Authorship of 'Argylle': Who Wrote it if Not Taylor Swift?
By Savannah Walsh
The core enigma of Argylle, a forthcoming espionage thriller with Dua Lipa casted as the deadly woman and Henry Cavill as the eponymous sleuth, doesn't lie in the movie, but in the elusive book that supposedly served as its inspiration. The scenario of Apple reportedly plunking down an astronomical figure of $200 million for the rights to a yet-to-be-published book penned by a rookie author, and subsequently playing hide-and-seek with the author's identity, isn't a daily occurrence.
Bantam Books and Penguin Random House introduced the book on January 9, attributing it to one Elly Conway, a pseudonym that Bryce Dallas Howard’s character in the movie also goes by. Add in a few peripheral connections to the world's topmost pop star and some skillful evasion of queries by director Matthew Vaughn, and an enigmatic backstory was efficiently promoted.
Before the movie hits the cinemas on February 2, let’s delve into the gossip surrounding Taylor Swift’s role and speculate about the real person behind the most obscure book of the year.
Argylle is themed around a Romancing the Stone-style escapade featuring Elly Conway, who is "a reclusive spy novelist" entangled in "the operations of a sinister underground syndicate" portrayed by Howard, as per the movie’s summary. The film boasts a star-studded cast of Lipa, Cavill, Sam Rockwell, Samuel L. Jackson, John Cena, Ariana DeBose, Bryan Cranston, Rob Delaney, and Catherine O’Hara, directed by Vaughn (Kick-Ass, X-Men: First Class) and penned by Wonder Woman’s writer, Jason Fuchs.
In a Vanity Fair interview, Vaughn revealed Argylle’s narrative within a narrative idea: Howard’s Conway, he stated, is the “spy novels’ J.K. Rowling. Successful, smart, witty, yet plagued with agoraphobia. A perfect date for her would include staying home, writing more of her book, accompanied by her cat. She’s far from a victim given her success. Cavill's and Lipa's characters in the movie’s universe are "fictional"—they emerged from the onscreen Conway’s latest novel.
However, the book upon which Argylle is believed to be based is "a straightforward thriller without the film's cunning twists," hence suitable for those averse to "cheeky metafiction," as stated by The Telegraph.
This is where the strangeness sets in. Everyone seems to align in the belief that Conway is Howard's on-screen persona, yet doesn't exist in the real world. Not a single picture of her can be found online and her author biography on the Penguin Random House site is conspicuously brief: “Elly Conway was born and raised in upstate New York. Her first novel about Agent Argylle was drafted while she was waitressing at a 24/7 diner."
What adds to the mystery is the online endeavor to present Conway as a tangible person. Mystery posts under Conway’s name can be found on both X (formally Twitter) and Instagram profiles, but the authenticity of the one posting these remains unverified. Sophia Nguyen, a Washington Post reporter, tried contacting businesses that Conway has tagged on social media. None of them, from Caffe Reggio to Westsider Books, disrupted the storyline. Westsider Books even replied to Nguyen’s email stating, “We noticed that Elly posted about our store, we're delighted to be a place where she feels comfortable!”
The book’s dedications too, leave us none the wiser about the author, stating, “For Mom and Dad, who have supported me through it all,” and an author's note, mentioning the book’s inception during a “feverish dream” following a “dreadful accident.”
While this might sound novel, such instances have occurred in the past. Books were marketed under the name Richard Castle, the character of a criminal author-turned-rookie detective played by Nathan Fillion in Castle, the ABC series, as well as Jessica Fletcher, a character enacted by Angela Lansbury in Murder, She Wrote. However, unlike Argylle, in those cases, the publishers didn't hesitate to confirm the true authorship of the books.
As promotional materials for Argylle were being unveiled last autumn, some started investigating Conway’s origins. The search for her name resulted in a connection to a character in the long-standing Australian soap opera Neighbours; coincidentally, this character was introduced in the series on December 13, the same date as Swift’s birthday.
Once a connection was made, Swift's fans, also known as Swifties, started creating engaging theories as they usually do, leading to a series of news cycles. Among the facts floating around the internet include Bryce Dallas Howard's striking resemblance with a red-haired author Swift represents in her All Too Well: The Short Film. Fans also pointed out Swift's affinity for argyle clothing, as seen in her official merchandise. Citing the presence of a Scottish fold cat named Chip in the film's promotional materials, fans noted Swift’s owning two cats of the same breed and a similar pet carrier backpack to one appearing in the film.
Although Swift has previously used a pseudonym for her songs, Vanity Fair's sources debunked rumors last October that Swift was the author of the said book.
The rumors could possibly be rooted in the fact that the official Argylle account had been tweeting lyrics from Swift’s songs, supporting the speculations. The rumors didn't die down until November 3, when the account posted a tweet denying Swift's participation in the writing of the book.
In response to the rampant speculations, Universal Pictures, Penguin Random House, and Apple TV+ who are all slated to release the film, remained silent when asked by Vanity Fair and The Washington Post to comment on the matter.
Finally addressing the rumors this week, Vaughn, during a Rolling Stone interview, recalled his daughter coming up to him asking if Taylor Swift wrote the book. After which, Vaughn elaborated that while the book is real , and indeed written by Elly Conway, it is definitely not Taylor Swift.
He also commented on how he got to make the first Argylle movie, saying he was fortunate enough to have done so. The book's copyright is owned by Marv Quinn Holdings Limited, a company believed to be registered to Vaughn and his wife, Claudia Schiffer. This might suggest that an actual author was hired by the couple to write the book.
According to The Washington Post’s Nguyen, Robert Massey of the Royal Astronomical Society, who was thanked in the book's acknowledgment section, revealed a novelist named Tammy Cohen, who was advised on a manuscript for a Penguin Random House spy thriller. Cohen, who goes by multiple names including Tamar Cohen and Rachel Rhys, did not respond to the Washington Post's email.
Theories also suggest the book might have been written by Terry Hayes. Known for his work, I Am Pilgrim, Hayes was once expected to have his film directed by Vaughn.
What’s most compelling about this theory is that Vaughn made an unprompted mention of Hayes in an interview with Den of Geek last month. “It is interesting, because I’m like, Since when has anyone been interested in authors?” he began, adding, “Like, do you know who Terry Hayes is? So Terry rang me up, because he’s got a book coming out called The Year of the Locust, his new book which is coming out in a couple of [months]. And he laughed and said, ‘I wish I had as much bloody attention as Elly Conway. It’s ridiculous.’” (VF has reached out to a rep for Vaughn for additional comment.)
The novel debuted to middling reviews on Goodreads, many of which are only concerned with speculating about the Swift of it all. The Telegraph’s Jake Kerridge said in his review that while he “can’t quite endorse the grand claims by Matthew Vaughn on the cover–‘This is going to reinvent the spy genre,’” the book “is an excellent example of the action-thriller genre.” The Guardian’s Alison Flood called the novel “hugely melodramatic” and “rather silly,” but still “very entertaining.” However, she deemed Vaughn’s comparison to the Bond series to be an overstatement, writing, “Heir to Fleming is pushing it.”
It depends on who the author is, and how long we can go before the intrigue is no longer profitable. If the book’s writer winds up being a high-profile person, the studio could opt to unmask them prior to the film’s release for optimal buzz. After all, Vaughn and Conway’s social media handle only denied the Grammy winner’s authorship after Argylle’s official X account had leaned into the Swift rumors. But if the novelist is more under the radar, his or her identity may never be revealed. Why let the potentially anticlimactic truth get in the way of a juicy story?
