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| Eight Friends from Washington D.C.
| | Molly Maguire McGill
| Molly Maguire McGill manages to mix an interesting mash of Romance, religion, nostalgia, and politics. Eight Friends from Washington D.C. is her lead off novel about eight young people who meet as new staffers for the Romney/Ryan administration. All begins very well as they meet at the apartment complex they will share on the southern tip of the city. Soon, they are attending the swearing in ceremony, where they meet high government officials, including members of the US Supreme Court.
Being politically active, the eight young people play geography games in their apartments, including a game to show their knowledge of the state capitals. Personalities begin to emerge. Niles and Sherry, the African-American members of the group soon form a friendship. Coming from Texas, Bill tends to be a little brash, to the point of rude. Maria is the devout member of the group. We will later learn she really wants to be a nurse, but as a perspective nurse, she is also devoutly pro-life. That is why she supports this administration.
Virginia is from the Deep South and will manipulate Bill into a compromising position, then take advantage of it. Ben is from Nebraska. He will help the others after their terms in the Executive Office Building are over. The novel takes these eight people as they move into the nation’s capital, visit the historic sites, and take bicycle trips out into the surrounding countryside. They will also visit Arlington National Cemetery with the new President using Marine One, and travel the nation using Air Force One.
Those who are interested in US History, in particular while it is being made, will love this novel. Those interested in the geography of Northern Virginia, and in the history of the region will love how the eight visit these sites and have the scenery laid out for them.
There are two key scenes in the novel where riots break out in Washington D.C. and other cities throughout the nation. Each time, the eight friends find themselves in the middle of riots.
In one scene, the eight attend a local professional football game when cattle are dropped from the sky from a cargo plane. Remember when the air traffic controllers at Ronald Wilson Reagan International fell asleep? Remember how aircraft did not have the navigational assistance to land? With the cattle, naked skydivers shoot water from water guns and throwing water balloons. This heightens the sense of chaos, which is beginning to consume the nation.
Niles and Bill join the Marines and Army respectively. Bill manages to grow up and falls in love with Maria. Niles will use the skills he learns as a recon Marine to save Sherry in North Carolina. To learn what happens to the eight, and to the nation, this novel is a must read.
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