First published 2008
Connie Schultz faces a crossroads when her husband Sherrod Brown decides to run for Senate from Ohio. She must choose between her Pulitzer Prize winning newspaper column and supporting his political ambitions. Schultz agrees to step away from journalism and enters the campaign world. She encounters hostile bloggers, political operatives, and staffers young enough to be her children who now control her schedule. Her friends in the press turn cold. Campaign demands strain her marriage and family relationships. A personal tragedy strikes without warning. Schultz struggles against expectations of how a political wife should behave while maintaining her outspoken nature. She discovers the chaos and madness of midlife marriage combined with intense political scrutiny. The book captures her journey through one of the nation's most watched Senate races, revealing both the costs and rewards of political life.
Genres: american-fiction, contemporary, biography-memoir, 21st-century, journalism, family-drama
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: fish-out-of-water, found-family
Setting: Ohio
Period: 21st-century
304 pages · Paperback · Random House Publishing Group
Content warnings: mental-illness