In Other Words, Leadership

How a Young Mother’s Weekly Letters to Her Governor Helped Both Women Brave the First Pandemic Year

9781952143946

350 pages

Islandport Press

Paperback / softback $19.95

Overview

"A remarkable story of work, worry, art, faith, community, life, and hope. An instant classic." — Heather Cox Richardson, author of Democracy Awakening

March 2020. Recently-widowed Governor Janet Mills sits alone in Maine's executive mansion, facing an impossible choice: impose unprecedented COVID restrictions on her state, knowing it will destroy livelihoods and trigger fierce opposition. An hour away in the remote Maine woods, young mother and homesteader Ashirah Knapp watches her family's world unravel—then does something unexpected. She picks up a pen and writes the governor a letter of support, promising to send one every week "until we are through this time."

What follows is an extraordinary correspondence between two women from opposite ends of Maine's social spectrum, navigating not just the pandemic but the defining moments of our era: vaccine development and skepticism, George Floyd's murder and nationwide protests, the January 6th Capitol attack. Through handwritten letters never intended for publication and the governor's private journal, these women discover their shared values and what it truly means to lead.

Shannon A. Mullen weaves this intimate, behind-the-scenes account into a powerful celebration of civility, compassion, and resilience—proof that even in our most divided times, grace and understanding can prevail.

This edition includes a new foreword from Dr. Nirav Shah and discussion questions for reading groups.

Author Bio

Shannon A. Mullen is a journalist, author, screenwriter, playwright, podcast host and film producer, who has been telling stories in one form or another since childhood. She grew up in the White Mountains and Lakes Region of New Hampshire and studied pre-veterinary medicine in college after misinterpreting a love of James Herriot’s books as an inclination toward animal husbandry. She then earned a graduate degree in broadcast journalism and spent more than a decade reporting for national programs on public radio, including Morning Edition, All Things Considered, Weekend Edition, and Marketplace while also producing written journalism that appeared in such outlets as The New Yorker and The Boston Globe Magazine. More recently she branched out into writing for the film industry and is currently developing multiple projects for the stage and screen.