Barry Wynn; Or, The Adventures of a Page Boy in the United States Congress

The year is somewhere in the early 1900s. Barry Wynn is just a country boy when he lands a position as a page in the United States House of Representatives. One minute he's receiving an important package to deliver to Congressman Carlton, the next he's standing inside the Capitol building itself, surrounded by history and power and men who shape the nation's laws. But being a page boy isn't all grandeur. Barry quickly discovers that Washington has its own sharp edges: powerful men who don't appreciate being interrupted, older pages who guard their territory jealously, and the constant humbling realization that a thirteen-year-old in a pressed suit is still, in the eyes of the institution, essentially invisible. Yet every time Barry stumbles, he learns something about how the machinery of democracy actually functions - not from textbooks, but from the marble halls and smelly cloakrooms where legislation truly happens. A charming period piece that captures the bewilderment and wonder of youth thrust into the adult world of American politics.