Mary Ann Tierney is 15 years old. Within days her name will be known to millions across America, her court case a television must-watch for everyone from the President downwards. As Mary Ann takes on her own parents and the constitutional law of the United States in a desperate bid to protect her future right to bear children, the ramifications of "the Tierney case" bring a threat to the new President, Kerry Kilcannon, to his nominee for Chief Justice, Caroline Masters, and to his main rival for the Presidency, Senator Chad Palmer. All have dangerous secrets in their past, secrets that would not only threaten careers, but bring death and tragedy to innocent lives.
'Protect and Defend' is a tense, moving account of the tangled moral issues at the heart of the most difficult decision a woman has to make. It plays out the terrible consequences when the media takes people's private lives and turns them into public entertainment.
