Domestic Affairs, a Steamy Summer Read by Bridget Siegel

DOMESTIC AFFAIRS BY BRIDGET SIEGEL IS A SEXY, FUN READ

EverBeautiful.com is honored to welcome Harriet Posnak Lesser as a guest writer. Ms Lesser is an award winning journalist who specializes in political and social satire. She has written for local and national publications and readers may be most familiar with her work at The South Shore Record, The Nassau Herald, Newsday and The Brooklyn College Vanguard Blog. (And, by the way, she is also my mother. I had to learn it somewhere, I’m sure you’ll agree!)

Domestic Affairs: A Campaign Novel, a Steamy Summer Read by Bridget Siegel

Reviewed by Harriet Posnak Lesser

Planning your summer reading list?  Forget about shades of gray.  Curl up in a comfy beach chair with shades of red, white and blue this time around.  Let author Bridget Siegel color your warm weather world with her new novel, Domestic Affairs: A Campaign Novel (Weinstein Books) an insider’s look at a presidential campaign filled with political intrigue, sex, romance, betrayal, –and sex.  Fiction?  Maybe.  You be the ‘decider.’

Bridget Siegel, an experienced campaign consultant, has worked with such political luminaries as Hillary Clinton, Andrew Cuomo, John Kerry and John Edwards in the latter’s 2004 bid for vice president.  The multi-talented Ms. Siegel, a graduate of Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service, is an author and an actress who has appeared on TV’s Law and Order and in films.

Domestic Affairs, which Ms. Siegel wrote on her BlackBerry while traveling the New York City subway, centers on Olivia Greeley, a twenty-seven year old political fundraiser, who is asked to join the presidential campaign of handsome Georgia governor Landon Taylor.  Hmmm.  Roman a clef?  Real person disguised as fictional character?  You be the judge.  Here’s Ms. Siegel’s description of  the governor.

Taylor stood six feet tall and had high cheekbones and youthful blue eyes that complemented his prep school hair…His Southern accent blended with a sharp intellect to create the right mix of smart and accessibility.  

The author’s portrayal of Jacob Harriston, Olivia’s handsome young colleague and mentor, includes the following comparison to the gorge governor:  Jacob was a little taller but he had the same sandy brown hair and effortlessly charming smile.  She wondered if he had let his bangs grow a little long so they would flop over his eyes just like the governor’s did.

Any questions?  Trying to match the cast of characters with their real life counterparts adds to the fun.  Not all the characters are in disguise, however.  Surprise guest appearances are made by Jon Bon Jovi (in person) and Stephen Colbert (on television.)

Landon Taylor is Mr. Nice Guy personified until he drops the idealistic camouflage and destroys friends and confidantes in his bid for the White House.  We also get to meet the governor’s lovely wife, a fashionista who rules campaign staffers with a steel mindset and an iron hand.

Domestic Affairs takes you on a joy ride to tony campaign stops such as Martha’s Vineyard, the Hamptons and Manhattan for an inside look at the New York social scene.  Meanwhile, sex, unrequited (but not for long) weaves its way through the story, caught in a web of intrigue, deception and underhanded shenanigans that would do any campaign proud.  I actually loved this book and empathized with the realistically drawn heroine. It felt good to get lost in her world. I hope that Ms. Siegel will bring Olivia back in her next book – as maybe an actress or an author?  Looking forward to Domestic Affairs 2.