Dr Anthony Fauci was the erotic hero of Sally Quinn's 1991 Bestseller

[fleur-de-lisa]

Yes, that Anthony Fauci. In the novel, the character romances the first lady.

WRITTEN BY BENJAMIN WOFFORD | PUBLISHED ON MAY 5, 2020

https://www.washingtonian.com/2020/05/05/sally-quinn-modeled-the-erotic-hero-of-her-1991-bestseller-on-anthony-fauci/

In 1991, Sally Quinn—doyenne of the Washington intelligentsia, who was then on a streak of popular novels—published “Happy Endings,” which climbed the bestseller list. Across 500-plus pages, Quinn unspools the juicy romance of a widowed First Lady who falls head over heels for a dashing and cutting NIH scientist (who, by the way, has recently discovered a therapy for AIDS) while a white-hot and secretive love affair takes wind. Bellinis are spilled, love is made, hearts are broken and mended—all for the singular and mysterious scientist, who goes by the name of Michael Lanzer. Or better known by his real name: Anthony Fauci.

Part searing romance, part roman à clef, “Happy Endings” made the bestseller list during a year when HIV-related deaths were then the highest ever recorded in the United States. By then, Fauci was the government scientist best known for combatting the virus’s spread as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

It was around this time that Quinn first encountered the real-life Fauci, at a Washington function where the two were paired as dinner partners. With his tie askew and from behind enormous glasses, Fauci left an impression of earnest brilliance, enough to inspire the main character of Quinn’s upcoming novel.

“I just fell in love with him,” Quinn told me recently, recalling their evening together. “Usually those dinners, you make polite conversation, and that’s it. But we had this intense conversation, personal conversation. I though, ‘Wow, this guy is amazing.'”

[fleur-de-lisa]

1. This will really piss of the orange menace.

[regnaD kciN]

2. You mean "Mr. Mushroom"...?

[regnaD kciN]

3. He blinded her with science...

[Pacifist Patriot]

4. Not my genre, but now I have to read it!

[mopinko]

5. he aint hard to look at even now.

mmMMmm. loves me a brainy man, too.

[muriel_volestrangler]

6. What has she got to do with the intelligentsia?

She's a "socialite" or "hostess", who passes judgement on who's "in" or "out" in Washington media and political circles. That's like saying Vogue is a scientific journal.

[Blue Owl]

7. Faucio

n/t

[Hortensis]

8. Lol, love it. Don't love her for sure, but still...!