Just the Facts: A Novel

(Paperback)

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Description

Its harder for new graduates to find good jobs in the US today; the share of underemployed recent grads in low-wage (below $25,000) jobs rose from about 15% in 1990 to more than 20% by 2012.

Millennials currently make up about 25% of American workers, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. By 2020, that number will grow to more than 40%.

Baby boomers make up 35% of the American adult population.

The books thought-provoking but accessible tone will make it a book club favorite.

Reviews

Ellen Shermans new novel, Just the Facts, is a poignant, colorful portrait of a young woman coming of age in a small newspaper newsroom. Brimming with an ardor for writing and great literature, rookie reporter Nora Plowright unearths a major political scandal, but discovers that her passion for storytelling, and compassion for the people she covers, often conflict with her job. Noras emotional odyssey is captivating as she grapples with the fallibility of daily journalism, her parents' foibles, religion, and a steady stream of potential boyfriends. Those of us who have labored in the trenches of journalism will savor Noras triumphs (front-page bylines!) and wince at her disasters, which so many of us have experienced. William K. Marimow, two-time Pulitzer-Prize-winning journalist and editor of The Philadelphia Inquirer From the beginning of her first job after collegeas a staff reporter for a small Maryland newspaperNora Plowright pretty much knows she's happier writing about well-trained cockatiels and a school ban on potato chips than she is dealing with plane crashes, violent crime, and corruption. But nothing is as appealing to her as the variations on reality she rehearses in her mind as she drives from one assignment to the next. This is a touchingly honest and very funny twist on the cub-reporter-earns-her-stripes theme, and Nora is great company as she faces her (mostly) irrational fears, unexpected suitors, unsavory politicians . . . and a very dangerous bag of peppermint puffs. Jane Schwartz, author of Caught and Ruffian: Burning from the Start Ellen Sherman has written a smart, funny, and accomplished novel. Just the Facts provides both an inside view of the world of a small-town newspaper and an engaging portrait of a young woman at a pivotal point in her life. Kitty Burns Florey, author of The Writing Master

Author Bio

Ellen Sherman received her MFA from the University of Iowas Writers Workshop, and has worked as a journalist, editor, and teacher. She also has worked as a proofreader, tutor, Girl Scout cookie counter, and training coordinator for literacy volunteersall afternoon positions so that she could write in the mornings. Her first published novel was Monkeys on the Bed. Besides writing, her passions are choral singing, playing tennis, traveling, sampling new candy, and most of all, hanging out with family and friends.