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Women's Fiction, Occupations - Fiction
Sammy's House by Kristin Gore β€” book cover

Sammy's House

by Kristin Gore
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Overview

Sammy is in the House!

"The stakes, the pressure, the perpetual potential for both extraordinary progress and crippling failure -- everything was ratcheted up to a spectacular intensity, now that I worked for the president and vice president of the United States."

In this incisive comedy, late twenty-something Sammy Joyce -- hypochondriac, klutz, jumper-to-conclusions -- is in the White House as a health-care advisor to the newly elected administration. All the chips seem to be falling into place: She's living with her best friend, successfully keeping her pet Japanese fighting fish alive, and reveling in her romance with Charlie Lawton, an up-and-coming Washington Post reporter.

However, soon after taking office, the administration finds itself deep in a red-hot White House scandal. President Wye's old problem with the bottle re-emerges. His family is creating havoc. And an informant within the administration begins leaking damaging information. On top of it all, a secret deal with an Indian pharmaceutical company for an experimental drug unleashes a fury that threatens to shake the administration to its core. While the White House braces for a fiery response within the Beltway, Sammy fights to distance herself from the turmoil that surrounds her personally and professionally. But at a time when she needs Charlie more than ever, he gets promoted and moves to New York. As the heat surrounding the Oval Office intensifies, the political climate and Sammy's love life spiral out of control. Can she hold her ground when her relationships, ideals, and most importantly, her ability to trust are all coming apart at the seams?

In Sammy's House, Kristin Gore brings a novelist's eye to the inner workings of the White House, giving hilarious insight and a fresh perspective on political life.

Kristin Gore was born in 1977 and graduated from Harvard, where she was an editor of the Harvard Lampoon. She has written for several television shows, including Futurama and Saturday Night Live, for which she received an Emmy nomination and a Writer's Guild Award. Her first novel, Sammy's Hill, was a New York Times bestseller and is currently being adapted for the screen by Columbia Pictures. Kristin lives with her husband in Los Angeles.

Synopsis

The heroine of Kristin Gore's bestselling inside-the-beltway romp Sammy's Hill returns, and this time the laughs are richer and the stakes are higher at home and in the house (the White House, that is).

Samantha Joyce is many things: Health care policy wonk. Hypochondriac. Lover of Japanese Fighting Fish (and of Charlie Lawton, her Washington Post reporter boyfriend). Jumper-to-conclusions. And when all these identities collide as they do most days-the results are always unpredictable.

Sammy's role as an advisor to Vice President Robert Gary (RG for short) has led her down some exciting professional paths, like when she accompanies RG on a trip to India to help open pharmaceutical supply lines, and some troubling ones like when the president secretly asks her to plumb those lines to acquire as yet unapproved drugs for his own personal use. Her job interferes with her love life, too, after Charlie is transferred to New York for a huge story just when she's...

Booklist

Gore's second novel delves more deeply into the political realm Sammy inhabits. But herheroine remains compelling and thoroughly lovable, and readers will be thrilled to find Sammy back in the saddle again as she navigates the treacheries of Washington politics and her own love life.

About the Author, Kristin Gore

Kristin Gore was born in 1977 and graduated from Harvard, where she wrote for the Harvard Lampoon. She has written for several television shows, including Saturday Night Live and Futurama. Her previous novel, Sammy's Hill, will be a Columbia Pictures feature film. She is currently at work on the screenplay. She resides in Los Angeles.

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Editorials

USA Today

Kristin Gore's novel is both fun and political . . . refreshing and charming . . . [Sammy's] Hill and [Sammy's] House both describe a Washington reality rarely captured in political thrillers and conspiracy tomes.

Entertainment Weekly

The former veep's second daughter knows how to turn Washington shenanigans into a lighthearted, fun read.

Booklist

Gore's second novel delves more deeply into the political realm Sammy inhabits. But herheroine remains compelling and thoroughly lovable, and readers will be thrilled to find Sammy back in the saddle again as she navigates the treacheries of Washington politics and her own love life.

BookPage

A hilarious and suspenseful six-month romp through the nation's capital.

Kirkus Reviews

In this jokey, sometimes juicy romance-and-politics comedy, the eponymous heroine, who was a senatorial aide in Gore's first novel (Sammy's Hill, 2004), finds herself working in a scandal-ridden White House, territory Al's daughter obviously knows well. Nerdy but pretty Sammy comes to the White House when her boss, the admirable Senator Gary, is elected vice president. She works on health-care issues for the demanding but good-humored (and yes, fatherly) Gary, while indulging in her own mild hypochondria and waiting for her reporter boyfriend Charlie to propose. In the face of petty pranks and small exposes perpetrated against the White House by opposition members who call themselves the Exterminators, Sammy remains unperturbed, proud to be an idealistic believer in the new administration. She is therefore deeply shaken when she discovers that President Wye, a self-proclaimed reformed drinker, spikes his diet sodas with whiskey. Then, on a trip to India to work out a trade deal for low-cost pharmaceuticals, Sammy and V.P. Gary find themselves acquiescing to Wye's request to arrange undercover shipments of a still-experimental drug to treat Wye's Alzheimer's-ridden father. Soon after the elder Wye dies, leaving behind an illegitimate presidential half-brother fathered in an assisted-living facility, Sammy witnesses the president being dosed with the experimental Indian drug to counteract his alcoholism. It isn't long before the Exterminators get wind of the real scandal brewing. While the White House operatives scurry to find leakers, Wye denies the drinking. Not only is Sammy distraught at the state of the free world, but her work is taking its toll on her love life. To the author'scredit, no one-not even Sammy, Charlie or the basically ethical and ultimately heroic Vice President Gary-is without guilt, although love and honor conquer all. Despite a few wicked sparks (the reality show starring the ex-president is priceless), Gore's satire is more affectionate than biting. Agent: Andrew Wylie/Wylie Agency

Book Details

Published
June 1, 2007
Publisher
Hyperion
Pages
400
Format
Hardcover
ISBN
9781401302641

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