The Cutting Room

• Self-published in 2014

• Named to Kirkus Reviews' Best Indie Novels of 2014

• Finalist for the 2015 Ottawa Book Awards, English fiction    

Jeff Whittaker has been a trusted communications advisor at the highest levels of government and industry. Now, no one wants his advice. Unemployed at fifty-five, Whittaker volunteers at the Jamieson International Documentary Film Festival, where greater value is placed on his clean driving record than his strategic marketing expertise. He’s assigned to chauffer one of the festival’s biggest draws—Margaret “Terror” Torrance, a Hollywood star at the top of her game and the bottom of most casting lists. She’s promoting Red Carpet, her first film as a producer—a blistering tell-all on the film industry’s historical marginalization of women. The film has landed her on industry blacklists and may yet land her in court if she dares speak about the incident that drove her to make it. Torrance is financially and emotionally spent, and in desperate need of allies. Is Whittaker someone she can take into her confidence? 

The Cutting Room captures the spirited encounter between two people facing the second acts of their lives. It’s a powerful affirmation of friendship’s sturdy bonds, a