From Publishers Weekly
Although this book's central message is a monumental platitude ("Money can't buy happiness," intones the protagonist), the point is made with clarity and considerable suspense. Claire Goddard is a hard-working, 35-year-old divorcee who has a close and loving relationship with her 17-year-old daughter Emma. When Claire wins $60 million in the lottery, they set out on their new life with sybaritic abandon: Claire quits her job, hires a money manager and begins buying luxury goods. But if they now have leisure and power, Claire and Emma also have too many choices. While on a cruise that is emblematic of their emotional displacement, the vulnerable women fall under the spell of an unscrupulous duo: Quentin Eiger, director of Eiger Cosmetics, and his son Brix. They are both immediately caught up in whirlwind relationships that are as self-destructive as they are sexually charged. The powerful and manipulative Eigers are much more sinister--and dangerous--than they appear. A cast of secondary characters (an enigmatic aunt; a perceptive writer; a lesbian friend) help both Emma and Claire reexamine their values. The husband-and-wife team of Judith Barnard and Michael Faine ( Sleeping Beauty ) has woven a contemporary tale that should please romance addicts, if not readers interested in stylish prose. 300,000 first printing; Literary Guild and Doubleday Book Club main selections.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Kirkus Reviews
Another novel from the PC of Judith Michael--really a husband a wife writing team based in Aspen and Chicago, known for their popular, plumped-up category-style romances (Sleeping Beauty, A Ruling Passion, etc.). And guess what happens on page one? The hard-working, divorced, beautiful-but-unaware-of-it, 35-year-old heroine, Claire Goddard, of Danbury, Connecticut, wins $60 million in the lottery- -which poses the book's ber-issue: Will money ruin her and her knockout 17-year-old daughter, Emma? Not surprisingly, shopping follows the windfall; indeed, Claire ``could not stop buying,'' beginning with two Mercedes, a million-dollar home, and a makeover. The new ``look'' stands her in good stead when she takes Emma on a cruise to Alaska, where the Goddard girls meet the Eiger boys. ``You're a cool breeze over the dung of the people I spend my time with,'' is how Quentin Eiger, head of a cosmetics company, romances Claire. His son, Brix, woos Emma with cocaine and an offer to be the Eiger girl, modeling a special new line of makeup called PK-20. The problem is just that PK-20 causes rashes and blindness-- information the Eigers are trying to suppress. Emma will make a big mistake by confronting Brix about it, since he cares more for PK-20 than he does for her. Meanwhile, Claire figures out that Quentin is more a part of the dung heap than separate from it. Fortunately, though, there's a handsome journalist waiting in the wings to console her. This is what it is: cherry Jell-O, with a dollop of fake whipped cream in the form of awful writing. (Literary Guild Dual Selection for November) --
Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
