ANNA HASTINGS

by Allen Drury ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 19, 1977

The scourge of the liberal establishment takes on the pinko-tinted media, with less heat under the collar than usual--possibly because this time his brassy powermonger, is after ali a female, who can cry when she discovers it's lonely, lonely at the top. And who could be unmoved when Anna Hastings, nee little Anna Kowalczek--founder and mover of the Washington Inquirer, Pulitzer prize-winner, television personality, sought out by presidents--wails out: ""I'm so alone!"" Certainly not the Old Team--narrator Ed, fat Bessie, and left-leaning Tal (whose Commie dealings are investigated along the way)--who were cub reporters together with Anna and have no life apart from the Inquirer and standing about, chorus fashion, during the crises of Anna: her marriage to a wealthy Texas Senator, who watches while the paper he bought her is used to undermine America; the Senator's suicide after Anna puts the paper before family feelings and shafts his hopes for the Vice Presidency; the desertion by her children. In spite of Anna's steadfast nastiness, the Old Team rallies round and at the close there's a Polish family/O.T. Christmas with carols. Drury still rumbles about forces that bore bungholes in the Ship of State, but even readers on his political wavelength may find the Old Team loyalty too much of a strain on the credulity and Anna too much of a royal pain in the Ascent.

Pub Date: Aug. 19, 1977

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Morrow

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 1977

Categories: FICTION