First published 2007
Timothy Laughlin arrives in Washington D.C. in the early 1950s, a recent Fordham graduate and devout Catholic ready to fight Communism. The capital buzzes with bare knuckled politics, hard drinking, and secret files. Figures like Joe McCarthy, Richard Nixon, and Drew Pearson shape the fevered atmosphere. Tim meets Hawkins Fuller, a handsome State Department official who gets him his first government job. Fuller's advances lead to Tim's first love affair. As McCarthy escalates his desperate grab for power, investigators target "sexual subversives" in government. Tim and Fuller must hide their relationship while navigating increasingly dangerous political waters. Tim finds support in his friendship with Mary Johnson, a beautiful young woman, but struggles to balance his political beliefs, his faith in God, and his love for Fuller. The story moves from the Senate Office Building to the Washington Evening Star, from Foggy Bottom's diplomatic circles to NATO's European front lines. Tim faces an impossible choice between his convictions and his heart, leading to a devastating act of betrayal that will shatter everything he holds dear.
Genres: romance, american-fiction, historical-fiction, 20th-century, lgbt, political-thriller
Vibes: emotional, intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, found-family, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Foggy Bottom, NATO, Senate Office Building, Washington D.C., Washington Evening Star
Period: 1950s
356 pages · Hardcover · Pantheon
Content warnings: homophobia