Admit This to No One

Admit This to No One

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Published by Unnamed Press
November 9, 2021
ISBN-10 : 1951213416
ISBN-13 : 978-1951213411

In Admit This to No One, we meet a group of women connected to a central figure either personally or professionally, and for better or for worse—an all-powerful and elusive Speaker of the House, whose political career has only stopped short of being Presidential due to his myriad extra-marital affairs. The Speaker’s daughters from his several failed marriages have a complicated relationship with him to say the least—alternating between longing for his affection or bristling with resentment, and occasionally relief at being left out of the spotlight.

His oldest daughter Lexie, from his “real family, the first one,” once his favorite who knew the real him, is now an adult who has blown up her career due to a sex scandal of her own. His long-time fixer and keeper of secrets, Mary-Grace, is relentless and uncompromising in her devotion to him, making the lives of the interns and aides under her purview in the Capitol miserable. When the Speaker’s life is in danger, the disparate women in his life will collide for the first time, but can their relationships be repaired?

These stories show us how Washington, D.C.’s true currency is power, but power is inextricable from oppression—D.C. is a city divided, not just by red or blue, right or left, but Black and white. Segregated by income and opportunity, but also physically by bridges and rivers, and police vehicles, Leslie Pietrzyk casts an unflinching and exacting gaze on her characters, as they grapple with the ways they have upheld white supremacy and misogyny. Shocking and profound, Pietrzyk writes with an emotional urgency about what happens when the bonds of family and duty are pushed to the limit, and how if individuals re-evaluate their own beliefs and actions there is a path forward.

Read a story from this collection:
“Til Death Do Us Part”
“Hat Trick”
“Anything You Want” (flash fiction)

 Interview in The Rumpus (by writer Beth Kephart).

Watch ADMIT THIS TO NO ONE book launch via Politics & Prose on YouTube.

ADMIT THIS TO NO ONE selected by Washington Independent Review of Books for “Our 51 Favorite Books of 2021”

Praise:

“A collection of stories set in Washington, D.C., full of scandal and insider details…An exciting collection bristling with intelligence, political awareness, and psychological complexity.”

~Kirkus, starred review (read more)

 

“These linked stories about a powerful politico and the women in his life offer a riveting look at how government really works — with all the attendant misogyny, racial injustice and class feuds — and how much work it will take to solve its problems. It’s a tour de force from a gifted writer.”

~Bethanne Patrick, Washington Post [read more]

 

“Throughout, Pietrzyk writes with insight and wit, and makes even tertiary characters feel fully developed. This ambitious work is pulled off with verve.”

~Publishers Weekly (read more) 

“…an unflinching collection of linked short stories involving a fictional but dismayingly believable speaker of the House. Insidery, insightful, and deftly executed.”

~Washingtonian magazine (read more; scroll to #8)

 

“Fourteen exquisite, interlinked stories, set mostly in Washington, D.C., comprise Leslie Pietrzyk’s shrewd Admit This to No One. Pietrzyk (Silver Girl) humanizes Beltway insiders (and wannabe outsiders), even as she skewers their hypocrisies, weaknesses and dreams….The winks, protestations and complicity throughout induce both can’t-make-this-stuff-up shock and all-too-knowing nods. Racism, sexism, elitism, so many -isms, fabulously fuel one of the finest collections of the year.”

~ Terry Hong, Shelf Awareness [starred review] & Smithsonian BookDragon [an affiliate of the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center] [read more]

“Pietrzyk’s social and psychological insights, keen eye for detail and propulsive plot bring disparate women together, revealing the power to heal, and oppress.”

~National Book Review [read more]

 

“These are sharp-edged stories of contemporary life with a bite that encourages you to see what before lay hidden in polite pretensions, by the author of the socially perceptive novel Silver Girl.”

~Dan Wakefield, Ploughshares [read more]

“Many brilliant writers fly under the radar, insufficiently recognized for their superb mastery of the art of storytelling. One such is Leslie Pietrzyk, who, though honored by having received the prestigious Drue Heinz Award in fiction, should be more celebrated. Her newest and most sophisticated work to date is Admit This to No One, a dazzling collection of short stories.”

~John Newlin, New York Journal of Books [read more]

“Her witty style and assured voice bring insight and relatability to the homes of the powerful and proletarian alike. Taken individually or as a whole, these complex, daring stories by an innovative and skillful fiction writer will both entertain and shock.”

~Emily DuGranrut, Booklist (subscribers only)

 

“Admit This to No One is an outstanding story collection that becomes more enthralling with every story and manages to end in a way that feels both surprising and inevitable. Pietrzyk’s unflinching style invites readers to consider our own selfishness, our own privilege or lack thereof, and our own secret fears. It provides important commentary on official D.C. and white privilege. And it’s hilarious, in a dry, dark way.”

~Norah Vawter, DC Trending [read more]

“Dishy and of the moment.”

~Marion Winik, Baltimore Fishbowl (read more)

“Admit This to No One is an undeniably noteworthy story collection, one that is both timely and timeless. These fourteen stories illuminate uncomfortable truths and force us to consider the value we place on ourselves and others, and how that plays out in our own lives.”

~Rachel León, West Trade Review [read more]

 

“Anyone who has lived in Washington, DC, for more than a day will recognize (and recoil at, rejoice over, and ridicule) every character in this collection of short stories.” ~Cathy Alter, Washington Independent Review of Books [more]

 

“Themes of power inequities, performative racial allyship, and sexual harassment wind through these brief but detailed sketches of America’s complicated and often unwritten rules of etiquette.”

~Foreword Reviews [read more]

 

“Like the churn and turbulence of the Potomac River, Pietrzyk provides a glimpse into what political life in D.C. looks like, but she also demonstrates the emptiness and tense tightrope walking that it requires. Admit This to No One is a short story collection for the modern age and definitely one you won’t put down before turning the final page.”

~Savvy Verse & Wit [read more]

 

“She creates an enticing dissonance between the characters’ actions and their intentions that makes reading this book an experience akin to gossiping, complete with all of the accompanying discomfort and titillation.”

~Alison DiCesare, GandyDancer [read more]

 

“Leslie Pietrzyk takes a scalpel to White Washington, D.C., and doesn’t flinch as she cuts it open. In these breathless (sometimes jaw-dropping) stories, Leslie dissects with precision, giving us every lonely, sad, and selfish thought from characters we’ve met at least once in the nation’s capital.”

~Melanie S. Hatter, author of Malawi’s Sisters

 

“To say that Leslie Pietrzyk is an inventive writer is an understatement.  She is more like a gold medal gymnast of the short story, endlessly testing the flexibility of the story form, exploring topics as wide ranging as family dynamics, feminism, cultural heritage, the loss of a spouse, and politics. Her latest book, Admit This To No One, is a fierce story collection that poses questions about politics and art, and, as one of her characters wonders, isn’t the creation of all art political? Though this book appears to be about Washington insiders, it is often about people who are outsiders to themselves, those who find it difficult to recognize their own truths.  Her original and conflicted characters evoke genuine compassion and startle us over and over again with their humanity.”

~Susan Tekulve, author of Second Shift: Essays

“Pietrzyk provides an irresistible glimpse behind the curtain at the world of political DC, at those women whose misfortune it is to live in the shadow of a “great” man. What is it like to be the unwanted daughter of a famous father—and is it better or worse to be his favorite? Pietrzyk is insightful and unyielding in the examination of these deeply flawed characters and their often graceless yet fragile attempts at intimacy, as they navigate their lives nursing the invisible wounds of childhood, wounds they easily transform into weapons. Told with unsparing frankness in prose that cuts like a razor, these stories are as tough and as vulnerable as the lives they portray.” 

~Paula Whyman, author of You May See a Stranger

 

“Pietrzyk excels at awkward social encounters. She makes you squirm, then makes you want more. It’s a gift she has, and the reader is the lucky recipient.”

~Rivanna Review [print only]

 

“What really unifies this collection is all the characters who are in denial and/or honestly trying to suss out who they really are, how they fit into their bureaucracies, their families, the society in general, their authentic selves….Admit This to No One is a truly breathtaking read.”

 

~Charles Rammelkamp, Compulsive Reader [read more; spoiler alert]

 

RECIPE FOR ADMIT THIS TO NO ONE

Admit This to No One is about the dark and vulnerable secrets we know in our hearts, that we know we’ll never admit. So here I am, admitting that this (amazing!) recipe is straight off a random piece of direct mail soliciting donations to Boys Town (a ministry in Nebraska serving at-risk youth). I’ll also admit that there’s little I adore eating more than this combination of fat, spice, and sugar…quite possibly, it’s the “essence of the thing [I have] chased [my] entire life.”

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