Rachel to the Rescue

By Elinor Lipman

Rachel Klein is sacked from her job at the White House after she sends an email criticising Donald Trump. As she is escorted off the premises she is hit by a speeding car, driven by what the press will discreetly call 'a personal friend of the President'.
Does that explain the flowers, the get-well wishes at a press briefing, the hush money offered by a lawyer at her hospital bedside?
Rachel's recovery is soothed by comically doting parents, matchmaking room-mates, a new job as aide to a journalist whose books aim to defame the President, and unexpected love at the local wine store.
But secrets leak, and Rachel's new-found happiness has to make room for more than a little chaos. Will she bring down the President? Or will he manage to do that all by himself?
Rachel to the Rescue is a mischievous political satire, with a delightful cast of characters, from one of America's funniest novelists.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lightning Books
• Release date: Oct 16, 2020
• ISBN: 9781785632563

Elinor Lipman

Elinor Lipman is the award-winning author of sixteen books of fiction and nonfiction, including The Inn at Lake Devine, Isabel’s Bed, I Can’t Complain: (All Too) Personal Essays, On Turpentine Lane, Rachel to the Rescue, and Ms. Demeanor. Her first novel, Then She Found Me, was adapted into a film directed by and starring Helen Hunt, with Bette Midler, Colin Firth, and Matthew Broderick. Lipman was the 2011–12 Elizabeth Drew Professor of Creative Writing at Smith College and divides her time between Manhattan and the Hudson Valley.

Reviews for Rachel to the Rescue

[bookconcierge · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

3.5*** Rachel Klein works for the White House Office of Records Management (WHORM), taping together the pieces of official documents that # 45 has torn up (despite being repeatedly told that all official documents must be kept for the National Archives). When she sends a drunken tweet voicing her frustrations but accidently hits “reply all” she is unceremoniously fired. As she exits the Executive Office Building, she’s struck by a speeding SUV … which, she learns later, is being driven by a “close personal friend of the President.” This was a fun, fast, joy of a rom-com to read. First, Yes, there really is a WHORM and someone (or a team of someones) really did have to tape back together the pieces of documents torn up by # 45. But the rest is pure fiction, and delightful fiction at that. In addition to the very likeable Rachel the cast of characters includes her new boss, a muckraking journalist given to writing nasty books about # 45, Rachel’s parents, who own a paint & wallpaper store in NYC, her roommates, a lesbian couple who are both attorneys working for DOJ and unapologetic matchmakers, and the met-cute boyfriend Alex. And, of course, COVID eventually arrives to further complicate matters. I’ve had numerous books by Lipman on my tbr over the years, but I’ve never gotten around to reading any of them. I’m gonna fix that!

[brangwinn · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I usually like Eleanor Lipman books, but this one about a woman who was fired from Trump’s White House was not for me. Yes, there’s humorous satire and romance, but something got lost in the storyline. Maybe it’s because I am just tired of Trump and, even with the premises of this amusing story ringing true, I kept hoping it would get better. I liked Carl Hiaasen’s Squeeze Me better.

[pgchuis · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I received a copy of this novel from the publisher via NetGalley.I didn't enjoy this: I found the tone obnoxious, the subject matter pointless, and it felt strangely unfair reading about contemporary real life people in a work of fiction. I did like Alex though.

[cygnet81 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Potential and then just faded out