A mysterious First Lady. The intrepid journalist writing her biography. And the secret that could destroy them both. Tired of covering the grating dysfunction of Washington and the increasingly outrageous antics of President Henry Caine, White House correspondent Sofie Morse quits her job and plans to leave politics behind. But when she gets a call from the office of First Lady Lara Caine, inviting her to come in for a private meeting with Lara, Sofie’s curiosity is piqued.
Sofie, like the rest of the world, knows little about Lara – only that she was born in Soviet Russia, raised in Paris, and worked as a model before moving to America and marrying the notoriously brash future president. When Lara asks Sofie to write her official biography, and to finally fill in the gaps of her history, Sofie’s curiosity gets the better of her. She begins to spend more and more time in the White House, slowly developing a bond with Lara. As Lara’s story unfolds, Sofie can’t help but wonder why Lara is rehashing such sensitive information.Why tell Sofie? And why now? Suddenly Sofie is in the middle of a game of cat and mouse that could have explosive ramifications.
Anna Pitoniak is the author of The Futures, Necessary People, and Our American Friend. She graduated from Yale, where she majored in English and was an editor at the Yale Daily News. She worked for many years in book publishing, most recently as a Senior Editor at Random House. Anna grew up in Whistler, British Columbia, and now lives in New York City
My thoughts: this was so good, a mystery, a thriller, political and personal, all blended together. Why is Sofie hiding out in Croatia? What did she do that meant she and her husband had to flee America?
Slowly the story is revealed. And it isn’t Sofie’s alone, it’s also Lara’s. And a few other people’s too. Her mother, Irina, her lost love Alex, her sister, her father and Russia’s as well. What seems like an amazing opportunity, to get up close and personal with the First Lady, ends up being so much more and Sofie realises she’s a pawn in a much larger game.
Beautifully written, totally gripping and so clever it shocks you, this is a fantastic read.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.
ramblingmads 