author: Gabrielle Zevin
genre: Women's Fiction
published: August 22, 2017 by Algonquin Books
format: Hardcover, 294 pages
purchase: Amazon | B&N | Book Depository
rating: 4 / 5 stars
goodreads
Young Jane Young's heroine is Aviva Grossman, an ambitious Congressional intern in Florida who makes the life-changing mistake of having an affair with her boss‑‑who is beloved, admired, successful, and very married‑‑and blogging about it. When the affair comes to light, the Congressman doesn’t take the fall, but Aviva does, and her life is over before it hardly begins. She becomes a late‑night talk show punchline; she is slut‑shamed, labeled as fat and ugly, and considered a blight on politics in general.
How does one go on after this? In Aviva’s case, she sees no way out but to change her name and move to a remote town in Maine. She tries to start over as a wedding planner, to be smarter about her life, and to raise her daughter to be strong and confident. But when, at the urging of others, she decides to run for public office herself, that long‑ago mistake trails her via the Internet like a scarlet A. For in our age, Google guarantees that the past is never, ever, truly past, that everything you’ve done will live on for everyone to know about for all eternity. And it’s only a matter of time until Aviva/Jane’s daughter, Ruby, finds out who her mother was, and is, and must decide whether she can still respect her.
Lovely story. Timely. Totally worth your time.
When I saw this book a few months back, I got really excited mainly because I read Gabrielle Zevin's The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry and I LOVE that book. Gabrielle Zevin easily became an auto-buy author for me because why not?
