MR Alan Vanneman

Tongue of Newt MR Alan Vanneman

Tongue of Newt is a Washington novel with a twist: in 2012, the upward striving Jerry Callahan gets a job writing a newsletter for none other than Newt Gingrich, who quickly decides that Jerry is just the man to write his masterpiece, the Washington novel to end all Washington novels, The City and its Masters. There are distractions, like the enticing Amanda Hamilton, Harvard grad and reporter for the Wall Street Journal, so frustratingly out of Jerry's league, and dangers, like Jerry's bosses, Ned and Jerry, who resent his bond with Newt. Jerry bobs and weaves, thrusts and parries, but always there is the novel. But, even if completed, will it prove to be too good, too unsparing in its portrayal of Beltway follies and betrayals? And if it is too hot to handle, who will be burned?