From the Corner of the Oval: A Memoir

Beck Dorey-Stein

Jul 2018 · Sold by Random House

About this ebook

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • What if you lived out the drama of your twenties on Air Force One?
 
“[This] breezy page turner is essentially Bridget Jones goes to the White House.”—The New York Times
 
RECOMMENDED READING theSkimm • Today • Entertainment Weekly • Refinery29 • Bustle • PopSugar • Vanity Fair •  The New York Times Editors’ Choice • Paste

In 2012, Beck Dorey-Stein is working five part-time jobs and just scraping by when a posting on Craigslist lands her, improbably, in the Oval Office as one of Barack Obama’s stenographers. The ultimate D.C. outsider, she joins the elite team who accompany the president wherever he goes, recorder and mic in hand. On whirlwind trips across time zones, Beck forges friendships with a dynamic group of fellow travelers—young men and women who, like her, leave their real lives behind to hop aboard Air Force One in service of the president.
 
As she learns to navigate White House protocols and more than once runs afoul of the hierarchy, Beck becomes romantically entangled with a consummate D.C. insider, and suddenly the political becomes all too personal.

Against a backdrop of glamour, drama, and intrigue, this is the story of a young woman learning what truly matters, and, in the process, discovering her voice.

Praise for From the Corner of the Oval

“Who knew the West Wing could be so sexy? Beck Dorey-Stein’s unparalleled access is obvious on every page, along with her knife-sharp humor. I tore through the entire book on a four-hour flight and loved reading all about the brilliant yet hard-partying people who once surrounded the leader of the free world. Lots of books claim to give real insider glimpses, but this one actually delivers.”—Lauren Weisberger, author of The Devil Wears Prada

“Dorey-Stein . . . writes with wit and self-deprecating humor.”—The Wall Street Journal

“Addictively readable . . . Dorey-Stein’s spunk and her sparkling, crackling prose had me cheering for her through each adventure. . . . She never loses her starry-eyed optimism, her pinch-me wonderment, her Working Girl pluck.”—Paul Begala, The New York Times Book Review (Editors’ Choice)

Ratings and reviews

Loved this book; it reads like the stories told by someone you hope will be your best friend. Honest, engaging, funny, heartbreaking and perfectly timed. Fair warning; it does recall the under appreciated days before the country was turned over to a pack of jackasses so you have to be willing to re-experience the end of all that was sane and hopeful two years later and it doesnt hurt less.

The descriptions of the workings behind the scenes of the Whitehouse show details at "West Wing" leveln that you don't get from the news. Additionally the humanizing of all the personalities was done well. However the storyline describing the on again off again romance went through way to many cycles for this reader.

About the author

Beck Dorey-Stein is a native of Narberth, Pennsylvania, and a graduate of Wesleyan University. Prior to her five years in the White House, she taught high school English in Hightstown, New Jersey; Washington, D.C.; and Seoul, South Korea. This is her first book.