A relationship tale with a difference; original, clever and set during the Cold War. The story spans a fascinating period in USA history, when the country was rocked by racial hatred, the Army-McCarthy hearings, the assassinations of JFK and Dr Martin Luthur King Jr… This is also a relationship tale of secrets, lies and moral ambiguity, where life sticks its oar in and packs a mighty wallop. The main characters, writers and civic/political commentators are fascinating and feel so very real. The heady joy of love and political idealism is offset by tones of cynicism, of guilt ridden remorse and remonstration. When your world is turned on its head, when the world you've known becomes a stranger, how do you respond, endure, carry on? ~ Liz Robinson
Betrayal comes in many forms ...At the height of the Cold War, words are weapons and secrecy reigns. These are challenging times to be a writer and a wife, as Nell Benjamin knows only too well. One bright November day in 1963, the dazzling young president arrives in Texas and Nell receives a phonecall that overturns the world as she knows it. In the shocking aftermath, whilst America mourns, Nell must come to terms with both a tragedy and a betrayal that shatters every illusion of the man she thought she knew better than anyone else. Resonant, illuminating and utterly absorbing, The Unwitting is about the lies we tell, the secrets we keep and the power of both truth and love.
Ellen Feldman, a 2009 Guggenheim Fellow, is the author of The Boy Who Loved Anne Frank, Scottsboro, which was shortlisted for the Orange Prize for Fiction, and Next To Love. She lives in New York City with her husband.