Truth, Lies, and the Questions in Between
In 1973, Illinois teenager Patty Appleton moves to Washington, DC, to become one of the first girls to work as a Senate page, running errands for senators and getting a front-row seat for the Watergate hearings. President Nixon has just been sworn in for a second term after winning in a landslide, but his support erodes as his involvement in the breach of Democratic Party headquarters and his compilation of an enemies list become increasingly clear. Within this milieu, Patty navigates her pioneering role with the fact that she got her position as a result of her father’s influence within the Republican Party as a strong (and possibly complicit) supporter of the President. In the meantime, there’s trouble at home as her parents’ marriage implodes and she begins to suspect that her longtime boyfriend—starting his freshman year at Georgetown—is cheating on her.
Over the course of the year, Patty is exposed to other perspectives that cause her to question her upbringing and values, as well as the role to which her parents expect her to conform as a woman. Elliott deftly shows how Patty gains confidence in her own abilities to speak for herself and negotiate on behalf of others. She becomes someone her friends can count on not only for emotional support but also for help in making their own lives better. Her evolution to becoming a star in her own right rather than a helpmate to a powerful husband is threatened in the end by a shocking act of violence that leaves the ending unresolved but raises questions for discussion that will resonate with readers today. Photos and concise news accounts of important events add context to each chapter. Young adult.
