Jane didn't say (as far as I could gather) whether this book is a work of
fiction or an academic tome.  The sentence sounds like one from a
fictional narrative.  So that complicates the choice of "was" vs. "were." 
How does the author want the narrator to sound?  Should she/he sound like
the kind of person who fastidiously chooses "were" or more like a person
who conforms to the trend of using "was" instead of "were"?  Maybe the
editor has in mind the latter while the author is thinking of the former. 
Or (as Craig & others suggest), maybe the editor needs to be enlightened
about the difference between the two choices.

R. Michael Medley, Ph.D.
Professor of English
Eastern Mennonite University

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