Robert inman's latest: The Governor's Lady

From john F. Blair Publishers.  Available in hardcover and e-book editions.  

Cooper Lanier has been elected Governor of her southern state, succeeding her husband, Pickett, who is running for President.  Pickett intends for her to simply be his stand-in while he manages affairs back home from the campaign trail.  But Cooper – smart, feisty, independent -– has her own ideas.  She struggles to chart her own course through the treacherous shoals of male-dominated politics, finding unexpected allies in a crusty, aging newspaper reporter and her mother, a once-prominent political mastermind, from whom Cooper has been estranged for years.  Along the way, she comes to grips with her past, learns to nurture the relationships she cherishes, and finds out who she can count on, and who she can’t.

Read the first chapter.

Praise for The Governor's Lady

"Robert Inman's tale delineated rabid ambition, but what I found most fascinating was the slow demise of a marriage between two powerful politicos.  Their story was as sad as it was familiar.  The more Inman revealed, the more I related to the protagonist, Cooper Lanier.  Her biography spoke to me as a late-blooming Baby Boomer, as a woman, as a wife....Inman adds blood and warmth to believable scenes between daughters and mothers and grandmothers; mothers and sons; lovers and marrieds....The Governor's Lady is an excellent read....The political plot line provides forward thrust, but as middle aged folk understand, it is relationships that transform and defeat us.

Barbara Steinhauser, Denver Books Examiner

"Inman beautifully blends old-fashioned Southern storytelling with tense political drama. Readers with an interest in American politics, fierce women, or family relationships will enjoy this novel, whose strongly developed characters and plot suspense will keep them from putting this book down until the very last page."

  Library Journal

“Robert Inman has done it again with The Governor’s Lady, a rich page-turner of a novel featuring the best female characters I’ve encountered in a long, long time: Governor Cooper Lanier and her maddening mother, Mickey Spainhour. The complexity of Southern politics serves as a fascinating backdrop for the endlessly complex relationships between mothers and daughters, parents and children, husbands and wives. I didn’t want it to end.”

Cassandra King, author of The Sunday Wife

"Inman constructs a colorful world of southern politics marked by old-fashioned manners, questionable ethics, and pretentious names, then challenges that world with the installation of a female governor willing to take on the old regime....an intriguing plotline balanced by meaningful and heartfelt introspection on family and ambition brings interest to this tale."

Booklist

"The Governor's Lady...moves at an intoxicating pace.  Inman is intimately familiar with the inner workings of the Southern political landscape and he takes this opportunity to examine the role women play in this old boy's club setting....Inman's keen descriptions of his characters make them easy to imagine....Inman's mastery of dialogue and the fast-paced, engaging story line make it well worth the read."

ForeWord Reviews

"I thoroughly enjoyed Bob Inman's forthcoming Raleigh-set political novel, The Governor's Lady (John Blair $26.95 due in Sept.)  Bob was a Charlotte news anchorman for over twenty years and knows the heart and soul of the political landscape in North Carolina.  The story: When a popular governor's wife succeeds her husband, he expects her to continue his state policies (via the good ole boy network) as he runs for president, but she has her own agenda, and it's fun to see her come into her own.  I look forward to seeing Bob again when he's here this fall to discuss the book (you can preorder it now).

Nancy Olson, Quail Ridge Books, Raleigh

“Robert Inman hits the ground running and keeps up the pace in this suspenseful page-turner, which takes us behind the headlines as a Southern governor’s wife assumes the office herself so he can run for president. The real question is, how does Robert Inman know so much about state politics, public marriages, and human nature? And how did he come up with such believable characters—not only the ambitious ex-governor and his plucky, likable wife, but also the fascinating hangers-on who attach themselves to any rising political figure? The Governor’s Lady—a heady mix of sex and sexism, politics and greed, trust and perfidy—is as timely as the morning’s news.”

 Lee Smith, author of Mrs. Darcy and the Blue-Eyed Stranger

“Robert Inman is one of our finest Southern novelists, as The Governor’s Ladyproves yet again. Beautifully written, painstakingly observed, with a finely tuned sympathy for every one of its complex characters, this is a story that will keep you in a race to turn the pages.”

Mark Childress, author of Georgia Bottoms and Crazy in Alabama

""Inman's inside look at the family of ambitious politicians makes for great storytelling....The coming together of his experience covering public affairs and his talents as a writer make "The Governor's Lady" a welcome gift for any reader who loves politics."

D.G. Martin, host of "North Carolina Bookwatch" on UNC-TV

"...a terrific story with a cast of unusual characters."

Don Noble, host of "Bookmark" on Alabama Public Television

Now on Amazon Kindle: The First Four

Robert Inman's acclaimed novels Home Fires Burning, Old Dogs and Children, Dairy Queen Days and Captain Saturday are now available in digital format on Amazon Kindle, priced at $3.99, and on loan from Kindle Lending Library.

Read reviews at www.goodreads.com, www.barnesandnoble.com, and www.amazon.com.

Read summaries and first chapters of all books by clicking on the titles at the top of the page under "Books."

From Netflix: Home Fires Burning

Robert Inman's film adaptation of his first novel, Home Fires Burning, is now available on DVD from Netflix.  Home Fires Burning originally aired on CBS-TV as a "Hallmark Hall of Fame" presentation --  starring Neil Patrick Harris, Kyle Chandler, Barnard Hughes, Bill Pullman and Sada Thompson.

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