Just the Facts - Promo

When English major Nora Plowright finds herself staring at college graduation as if at the edge of a cliff, she decides to become a newspaper reporter--and right away, she manages to get a job at a local paper (which you could still do in 1978). Although fearful by nature, Nora pursues a tip from a stranger and soon is investigating corruption at the Maryland State Highway Authority regarding the controversial placement of a new freeway. The developing scandal, with its shady "players," tests both her budding reportorial skills and her appetite for danger. Also, her passion for storytelling makes it increasingly difficult for her to stick to the facts.

Humorous and poignant, Just the Facts is a coming-of-age novel about finding one's way in the real world that will resonate with anyone who has struggled with figuring out what to do when she or he grows up.

Here’s what readers are saying:

“From the beginning of her first job after college—as a staff reporter for a small Maryland newspaper—Nora 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

Purchase the book at:

Amazon * Barnes&Noble

About the Author:

Ellen Sherman received her MFA from the University of Iowa’s 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 volunteers – all afternoon positions so that she could write in the mornings. Her first published novel is 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.

Connect with the author at:

Website