Face-Time: A Novel

The Story

What if your girlfriend is sleeping with your boss? And what if your boss is the President of the United States?These provocative questions are at the heart of Face-Time, a compulsively readable, devastatingly insightful, and darkly humorous morality tale about how celebrity, sex, power, and ultimately love collide in the corridors of the White House.Face-Time is the story of Ben and Gretchen, two young political activists who meet and fall in love while working on a presidential campaign. When their candidate wins, both are given jobs in the new administration, his as an increasingly prominent speechwriter and hers in the Office of Social Affairs. But then Ben finds out that Gretchen has been sleeping with his boss,the president, and he confronts her. Gretchen swears her love for Ben and vows to do anything to ensure their future happiness together...except end the affair. She has gained the ultimate Washington prize: one-on-one 'face-time' with the president. And, perhaps not coincidentally, Ben's stock as a speechwriter has never been higher. But is the professional success worth the personal price?Far more than an echo of recent headlines, this thoughtful, riveting novel by Washington insider Erik Tarloff is an important work of politically inspired fiction that poses a fascinating and culturally resonant question: In a society that venerates power and celebrity, how far are we willing to go to bring ourselves in proximity to them? With the inside-the-Beltway appealof Primary Colors coupled with the literary distinction of All the President's Men, Face-Time is a perceptive entertaining examination of the seductive power, both personal and professional, of position and status at the highest altitudes.