Dan Ancona

Venus Shrugged Dan Ancona

Venus Shrugged is the first novel of the resistance -- and beyond -- as Julietta Torres leads a series of increasingly high-stakes and intricate campaigns, building a foundation for the just and inclusive transformation of the lives of millions of Californians.

A series of disasters initially convince Julietta that she should never have let her friends talk her into running for Congress. After salacious pictures from a political gossip site expose her non-traditional marriage and lead to ugly threats that implode her campaign, she vows to stay far out of public life and takes refuge with her family and close lovers.

Then a new ally offers her a chance at redemption -- along with romantic complexities. With help from an underground network from her Central American family's past and some unexpected -- and sometimes unreliable -- partners, she faces an even larger electoral showdown against an old friend, with the future of her beloved home state hanging in the balance.

Venus Shrugged is a realistic and ultimately hopeful vision of a possible non-dystopian future for California and the United States: a story of the start of nonviolent and democratic transformative change between now and the 100th anniversary of Martin Luther King's March on Washington.