Young Jane Young - Hardcover

Zevin, Gabrielle

3.8

30,478 ratings by Goodreads

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0735234388 ISBN 13: 9780735234383

Publisher: Viking, 2017

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From the author of the international bestseller The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry:

Named a Washington Post Notable Work of Fiction of 2017
A Kirkus Reviews Best Book of the Year
A Chatelaine Best Fall Reads pick
#1 on the August Library Reads list
An Entertainment Weekly’s “13 Books to Read in August”
An Amazon’s “Best Books of the Month” for August
A Barnes & Noble “August’s Best New Fiction” pick
#3 on the September Indie Next List

Aviva Grossman is a bright, ambitious congressional intern with a promising political future ahead of her until she makes the mistake of having an affair with her very married boss ... and writing what she thinks is an anonymous blog about it. When the affair dramatically comes to light, it’s not the popular congressman who takes the fall, it’s Aviva—and her life suddenly seems over before it’s hardly begun. Slut-shamed and hounded by the media, she becomes a late-night talk show punchline. Determined to rebuild her life on her own terms, Aviva changes her name, moves from Florida to a small town in Maine, starts her own wedding planning business ... and decides to continue a surprise pregnancy.

But when “Jane” decides to run for public office, that long-ago mistake—an inescapable scarlet A—trails her via the Internet, threatening to derail her life yet again. It’s only a matter of time until her daughter finds out who her mother once was—and is forced to reconcile that person with the one she thinks she knows ...

Young Jane Young is a smart, funny, and extremely timely novel which exposes the myriad ways we shame, forgive, and love one another. Just as she did in The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry, the superbly talented Gabrielle Zevin has created a cast of unforgettable characters: an ambitious yet naive twenty-something, a mother attempting to steer her daughter through a judgmental world, a veteran political wife facing the hard truth that fidelity isn’t always rewarded, and a young girl who feels bold about her choices before she realizes the restrictions all around her. Not only does Zevin skewer the inherent double standards in women’s everyday lives, she also explores the true meaning of resilience—and, ultimately, forgiveness.

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About the Author:

GABRIELLE ZEVIN is a New York Times bestselling author whose books have been translated into more than thirty languages. Her eighth novel, The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry, spent more than four months on the New York Times bestseller list, reached number one on the national Indie Bestsellers list, and has been a bestseller all around the world. She has also written books for children and young adults, including the award-winning Elsewhere.

In the middle of a particularly brutal political season, I began to have dreams about Aviva Grossman, Florida’s answer to Monica Lewinsky. Unless you lived in Florida at the turn of the century, you probably won’t remember her. The story briefly made national headlines because Aviva Grossman had foolishly kept an anonymous blog, where she detailed some of the “highlights” of the affair. She never mentioned him by name—but everyone knew! It was speculated that Aviva wouldn’t have kept a blog if she hadn’t wanted everyone to know, but I don’t think so. I think she was young and dumb, and I also think people didn’t truly understand the Internet back then, if indeed they can be said to understand it now. So, okay, Aviva Grossman. As a twenty-year-old intern, Aviva had an affair with Aaron Levin, a congressman from Miami. He was not her “immediate supervisor,” to quote the squishy statement he made during the press conference. “At no time was I the woman’s immediate supervisor,” Congressman Levin said, “and so, while I am deeply sorry for the pain I caused my loved ones, particularly my wife and sons, I assure you that no laws were broken.” The woman! He could not even bring himself to say Aviva Grossman’s name. The details of the affair, which were as tawdry and clich�d and human as you would expect, were on every local news channel and newspaper for months. One station even had a recurring segment called Avivawatch, as if she were a hurricane or an orca that had mysteriously beached itself. Fifteen years later, Levin’s still in Congress; Aviva Grossman, whose r�sum� included a dual degree in political science and Spanish literature from the University of Miami, a tenaciously googleable blog, and of course that infamous stint as an intern, couldn’t get a job. They didn’t put a scarlet letter on her chest, but they didn’t need to. That’s what the Internet is for.

In my dream, though, Aviva Grossman had managed to get past all of that. In my dream, she was in her forties and she had smart, short hair, and she was wearing a neutral pantsuit and a turquoise statement necklace, and she was running for national political office, though my dream wasn’t clear which one. It felt like Congress to me, but maybe that’s too poetically just. But it’s my dream, so let’s call it Congress. In any case, she was at a press conference when a journalist asked her about the affair. At first, Aviva gave a politician’s response—“It was a long time ago and I’m sorry for any pain I caused”—and she sounded not unlike Congressman Levin. The journalist persisted. “Well,” Aviva said, “being the age I am now and being in the position I am now, I can tell you with absolute certainty, I would never sleep with one of my campaign interns. But looking back and thinking about my part in it, my conduct, the only thing I can say . . . the only thing I can say about it is, I was very romantic and I was very young.”

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