Woman About Washington
by John F. Baker -- Publishers Weekly, 7/12/2004
As if there weren't enough troubles in Washington, along comes Jessica Cutler, with a thinly disguised roman à clef about the dashing life of a sexy girl-about-town whose specialty is members of Congress. Her more-than-semiautobiographical novel is called The Washingtonienne, and five big publishers went after it at a recent auction, with Hyperion emerging the winner. Senior editor Kelly Notaras came up with an appropriate advance for Pilar Queen and Michael Carlisle at Carlisle & Co., buying North American, audio, first serial and book club, with publication tentatively set for next summer. Cutler, who is 26, worked as a staff aide in a senator's office on the Hill until she started boasting on her Web log about the congressmen she had dated, and promptly got fired. Shades of The Mayflower Madame!
