It’s 1974, and America is restless, with the Vietnam War winding to a close, and feminists marching in the streets. Polly Wainwright respects the protesters’ demands for equal pay, but now nearing middle age, won’t risk her security. Her job, being a picture editor at a prestigious publisher, is enviable and too good to lose. Polly is comfortable with her life—her homey Chicago apartment, her war-correspondent boyfriend with the dangerous job that everyone admires, the steady paycheck.Still, she’d once dreamed of making documentary films.

​When suddenly her life is thrown off-course, Polly slowly begins to view things differently and with growing dissatisfaction. But she can’t shift gears to imagine a different future—until a mysterious letter arrives, changing how she views the one moment in her past when she might have achieved her dreams.

Lynn Sloan’s second novel, Midstream, is the engrossing, powerful story of a woman awakening to the power of possibility.


“…. treats us to believable characters and a high-stakes plot that involves work, love, and friendship. I had a hard time putting this novel down.”
New City
 
“…luminous…. The language is clear and crisp as it focuses on the concerns of creative, twenty-first century women trying to make it in corporate environments that are dominated by men. Midstream is a sophisticated, insightful novel….”
Forward Reviews

“…a cinematic tour de force … vivid, elegant …
a pleasure to read.”
Third Coast Review

“An engrossing novel that is both character study and commentary on the women’s movement of the 1960s and 1970s.”
BethFishReads
 
“Sloan reveals in a number of ways how being a woman forces us into boxes, creates untrue narratives that are perpetuated (even by other women), and gives us hope that we can break free.… a very welcome novel.”
Centered on Books

“…a lovely book…. I felt like Polly was one of my best friends as I could relate so totally with her dreams and struggles…. Polly is a character that will remain with readers long after the last page is read.”
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