How Far She's Come: A Novel
Written by Holly Brown
Narrated by Arielle DeLisle
3/5
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About this audiobook
From the highly acclaimed author of Don’t Try to Find Me and This is Not Over comes the unforgettable, harrowing story of a young broadcast journalist who discovers a mysterious diary from a female broadcaster in 1991 featuring startling—and frightening—parallels to her own life.
You might be wondering what a diary from 1991 has to do with you. You're about to find out. Those who don't learn from the past are doomed to repeat it…
Twenty-four-year-old Cheyenne Florian has just received her dream job offer. On the strength of a few vlogs, she’s recruited to be the new correspondent on the recently hatched Independent News Network, INN.
With the slogan “Because independent thinking is the only way out,” INN has branded itself as innovative. Yet once Cheyenne joins the INN team, she finds age-old dynamics in play. Some of the female staff resent her meteoric rise, while a number of the men are only too happy to welcome her. Then there’s the diary left for her anonymously, written in 1991 by a female broadcaster named Elyse Rohrbach. The mysterious diary is accompanied by a note, urging Cheyenne to learn from the past. She wants to believe it’s intended as inspiration and friendly advice, or at most, a warning. But as disturbing—and increasingly dangerous—parallels begin to emerge, she starts to wonder if something more sinister is at work.
It’s almost as if someone is engineering the similarities in Cheyenne’s life to match those from Elyse’s past, like she’s a pawn in a very twisted game. But Cheyenne is determined to rewrite the rules and play her own game. Though they’re separated by more than twenty-five years, Elyse and Cheyenne are forced to learn the same lesson: Nothing is more threatening than a woman who doesn’t yet know her own power…
Holly Brown
Holly Brown lives with her husband and toddler daughter in the San Francisco Bay Area, where she's a practicing marriage and family therapist. She is the author of the novel Don't Try to Find Me, and her blog, "Bonding Time," is featured on the mental health website PsychCentral.com.
More audiobooks from Holly Brown
Don't Try To Find Me: A Novel Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5This Is Not Over: A Novel Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5A Necessary End: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
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Reviews for How Far She's Come
10 ratings2 reviews
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How Far She's Come by Holly Brown is an intriguing novel with suspenseful elements.
Twenty-four year old recent college graduate Cheyenne Florian impulsively accepts a job as a newscaster at the up and coming Independent News Network (INN). INN's owner Edwin Gordon is proud of the fact his company does not rely on advertiser dollars which leaves them freedom to report the news stories that other news agencies will not touch. With no formal training as a journalist, Cheyenne's only experience is as a vlogger who disappeared from the public eye after her controversial story went viral and she was stalked and targeted by cyberbullies. Not long after she begins working at INN, she begins receiving Elyse Rohrbach's diary entries from 1991 which follow closely along the same path Cheyenne is now taking. She begins to wonder if she made the right choice to accept Edwin's offer after she becomes the target of sexual harassment by one of the male producers. However, it is not until broadcast journalist Beth Linford disappears that Cheyenne tries to figure out who is sending her Elyse's diary entries and exactly what is going on at INN.
Cheyenne is a little naive when accepting Edwin's job offer but by the time she begins questioning whether or not she made the right choice, it is too late to do anything about it. Instead she must push aside her misgivings and allow herself to be exploited in order to grab ratings. Cheyenne also quickly figures out that not everyone at INN is warm and welcoming as she tries to decipher who is her friend and who is her foe at her new workplace. In the wake of the #MeToo movement, she quickly discovers that sexual harassment is still all to prevalent and afraid of risking her job, Cheyenne has to decide whether or not to speak out about her experiences with one of the higher ups in the company.
Elyse's diary pages hit very close to home and Cheyenne is not certain whether or not the person sending them is trying to help her or threaten her. Many of Elyse's experiences in 1991 closely follow the same events that Cheyenne is grappling with in the present. With only a vague idea of what happened to Elyse, Cheyenne is fascinated by the revelations in the diary, but it is not until after Beth's disappearance that she begins researching exactly what happened to Elyse. The information she unearths leads to stunning information about what is occurring at INN, but what will Cheyenne do with these revelations?
Despite Beth's disappearance and the suspense surrounding the diary entries, How Far She's Come by Holly Brown is not a traditional mystery. The novel instead highlights the fact that even after the very public #MeToo movement, women still must contend with sexism and sexual harassment in the workplace. The plot is timely and Cheyenne eventually shows everyone what she is made of as the novel comes a strong and satisfying conclusion. - Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Holly Brown's latest novel, How Far She's Come, is quite timely. Brown herself says she took inspiration from news headlines. As she was writing, further allegations and social media actions were snowballing such as #MeToo.Brown sets her story in an independent cable news network. Twenty four year old Cheyenne Florian believes passionately in the American people's need to know and right to question. She vlogged her stories.....until things went bad - cyber bullying, stalking, threats and more. But, when her dream job as a news correspondent is offered to her by the wealthy man who runs INN, she leaps at the chance.And she leaped without really looking in my opinion. Suffice it to say, things do not go well here either. The newsroom is a hotbed of sexism, sexual abuse, rivalry, hate, fear, hostility, manipulation, abuse of power and more. Someone leaves Cheyenne the diary of another newsreader from twenty five years ago. Her experience mirrors what is happening to Cheyenne. But the final pages are missing. What happened to her?I absolutely appreciate the sentiment, the story and the truth of Brown's novel. Her premise is fact based. And we're all aware of what has been happening in the real world. And yes, it's wrong - very, very wrong.But fictionally, I had a problem with Cheyenne. I was puzzled with her taking the job, based on what had happened to her in the past - which seems to be the reason she is hired. She didn't question anything and went along with some very iffy directions and situations. "It's insulting, this reminder that I'm here for my body and not my mind, like I'm their little Broadcast Barbie." She's uncomfortable, but keeps playing. And I ask why? Why not question? Why not speak up? Given that her vlog was based on transparency and speaking her mind, I expected a different approach.To be honest, as I turned pages, I felt like this was a story I had already read. And in part I had, through actual news footage etc. Brown does put her own spin on things with the mystery of the newsreader from the past and her journal. But I found parts of her tale a bit far fetched.