Seconds

May 1, 1990
Best friends Anne Burrows, an ex-stewardess whose husband's financial clout now fuels her career as a dress designer, socialite do-gooder Sienna Marvell, still insecure from a wretched childhood, and prominent real estate broker Bronwyn Ashter, daughter of a Bronx druggist, all second wives of wealthy dynamos, have risen to the peak of New York society with the aid of kindly dowager Virginia Payne North. Now Virginia has fallen for Gregory Sawyer, the mountebank who ran a summer school for troubled teenagers where the trio, years ago, met and played a prank that turned tragic. Gregory may expose and ruin not just the women, but also their husbands, unless the three socialites help him bilk their friend Virginia. Meanwhile, Sienna cannot have the child she wants, Anne cannot stand the children she has, and Bronwyn is obsessed with her baby daughter. The friends' many-layered dilemmas are resolved in improbable reversals of fortune only a trace more believable than the situation that made them vulnerable in the first place. This less-than-gripping novel studded with thumbnail sociology is a letdown from the bestselling author of Funny, You Don't Look Like a Grandmother. First serial to Redbook; Literary Guild and Doubleday Book Club alternates.

July 1, 1990
A new entry in the chronicles of the moneyed elite, this novel focuses on three "seconds," the second wives of rich and powerful men. Under the guidance of a socially influentual and wise society matron, herself a second, the three young women have learned to create their own styles and have gained personal and financial prominence. Friends since adolescence, they are bound by a tragic secret. The sudden reappearance in their lives of someone who shares that secret threatens everything they have gained, as well as the happiness of their beloved mentor. The message that a woman's position is defined by her husband's power and that "marrying up" is the way to gain status will offend some; but many readers will enjoy another glimpse of what often seems to be a fantasy world. Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 1/1/90.-- Barbara E. Kemp, Columbia Univ. Libs.

Copyright 1990 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.