QK Agent Round - Girl Takes Back the White House

Title: The Last First Daughter
Entry Nickname: Girl Takes Back the White House
Word Count: 97K
Genre: YA Adventure, Retelling



Query:

First Daughter Rosalind (Lindy) Edwards was eight years old when hacker-terrorists took out all telecommunications in the U.S. Ten years later, on the day of the first television broadcast in a decade, there’s another attack. This time it’s a targeted hit on the White House, and Lindy is the only surviving member of the First Family and executive leadership. In the aftermath, Lindy finds her country under the control of a cruel, oppressive new regime that hoards information and power—and she and Henry, the secret service officer who saved her, the targets of a countrywide manhunt. Lindy is exiled and in disguise, like Rosalind from Shakespeare’s AS YOU LIKE IT.

Using fake identities and Lindy’s engineering skills, which allow her to build a network of radios, Lindy and Henry join a group planning to fight back against the new regime. Without realizing they are actually speaking to the First Daughter, the group asks Lindy to pretend to be the First Daughter in order to rally support for their movement.

Lindy had always feared the high-stakes decision-making demanded of her mother as President, but she wants to honor her mother by serving the greater good. Henry begs her not to take the leadership role, finally revealing he’s not just over-protective because it’s his job. As Lindy struggles with loss and reluctant leadership, she must decide if she can sacrifice the relationship closest to her heart, her safety, and possibly her life to give millions of others hope for their future.

First 250:

Television will broadcast today for the first time in almost ten years and I will be the first thing viewers see.

But not if I cut the cable in my hand. I don’t mean to think it, but the idea leaps up like a perfect solution. My pulse accelerates as I scan the workshop. I spy the wire cutters within arm’s length and my fingers twitch. If I ruin this cable, the broadcast won’t happen today. I won’t have to stand with my family pretending to project the perfect image of security and happiness to the whole country. No need to act calm in front of the camera while questions bounce back and forth rapid-fire in my brain. How will the country react to getting telecommunications back after a decade of silence? Even with all the preparations, what do we really know about—

The tap, tap, tapping of a pencil on a notepad brings me back to the moment. Celene sighs and slides the notebook to me, equations scribbled all over it.

“Looks like you’re finished with the cable inventory. Will you check my work on this equation here?” Celene taps the spot on the paper she means. “I want to be absolutely sure the cable lengths won’t cause any static.”

I try to swallow but the pounding in my throat, and the guilt, makes it impossible. I put the cable down and pull Celene’s notebook to me. I grin a little when I recognize the equation.