Staying True by Jenny Sanford (2010, Unabridged, Compact Disc)

Synopsis
In June of 2009, Jenny Sanford found out that her husband Mark Sanford, governor of South Carolina, had been having an affair with a woman in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The next day, Gov. Sanford revealed his infidelity to the world, and Jenny suddenly found herself trying to comfort her four sons and cope with her husband's betrayal under the harsh glare of the national media spotlight. Never one for quiet resignation, Jenny Sanford writes candidly about the events of 2009, culminating in her decision to divorce Mark. In the process, she details her own remarkable life story, including the prominent role she has played, both financially and strategically, in her ex-husband's political career.

Key Details
Author:	Jenny Sanford
Language:	English
Publisher:	Random House
Format:	Audio
ISBN-10:	0307736288
ISBN-13:	9780307736284

Additional Details
Narrated by:	Jenny Sanford
Edition Description:	Unabridged

Size
Thickness:	1.2 in
Weight:	5.8 oz

Publisher's Note
In this candid and compelling memoir, the first lady of South Carolina reveals the private ordeal behind her very public betrayal—and offers inspiration for anyone struggling to keep faith during life’s most trying times.

She’s been a successful investment banker, a mother of four, and the campaign manager for one of American politics’ rising stars—her husband, Mark Sanford of South Carolina, once widely hailed as a possible candidate for president in 2012. Yet to most Americans, Jenny Sanford is best known for the one role she refused to play—that of conventional political spouse standing silently by while her husband went before the media and confessed his infidelity. Instead, she stayed true—to herself, to her faith, and to her highest ideals of parenthood and public service. She chose to let Mark Sanford deal with the embarrassment and political fallout from his own actions while focusing her own efforts privately on raising their children to be men of character, even in the face of the lies their father has told.

In Staying True, Jenny Sanford recalls her shock and anguish upon discovering that her husband was having an affair with a woman in Argentina, and the further pain when she learned—just a day ahead of most Americans—that he had not ended the affair when she believed he had. She reveals the source of her determination to be honest and forthright instead of the victim in the tabloid passion play that gripped the nation in June 2009.

But her story neither begins nor ends with Mark Sanford’s astounding fall from grace. Writing with uncommon candor from a deep well of spiritual strength, Sanford shares personal stories and life lessons from before and after she stepped into the public realm. She recounts the many stresses—as well as the myriad joys—that she experienced on a daily basis while living in the governmental spotlight. (Just try keeping four young boys out of mischief in the governor’s mansion!) And she describes the many ways that the seductions of power can drive apart even the most committed couples.

At every step along her journey, Jenny Sanford has made choices: She gave up her career, moved far from her home state of Illinois, even changed her religious practices. Every choice was a glad concession to harmonious married life and, in some cases, to the support of her husband’s political aspirations. But the one thing she never gave up was her sense of self, her inner moral compass. Her remarkable poise and decency make her a role model for men and women alike. Her story will empower anyone who has fought to maintain independence and integrity—within a marriage or elsewhere in life.


From the Hardcover edition.

Industry Reviews
"[T]he Contract With America meets Southern gothic....[Jenny Sanford] is smart, focused and very angry. For all the pious references to forgiveness stitched throughout the narrative, revenge is a barely concealed subtext.....[T]his book, for all its more-in-sorrow-than-in-anger tone, clearly seems intended as the last nail in [Mark Sanford's] coffin."
(02/07/2010)

"This guy manages to make John Edwards look like a prince -- and certainly Jenny Sanford has not refrained from showing her soon-to-be-ex-husband in his least attractive light. The prologue, in which she recounts the day her husband's affair burst into public view, shows him a self-absorbed cad to the end."
(02/05/2010)