Shades of Fortune
A Novel
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4.5 • 6 Ratings
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
From the New York Times–bestselling author of “Our Crowd”: A novel of a powerful family, a cosmetics empire, and the dark secrets that could destroy both.
Mireille “Mimi” Myerson took her grandfather’s struggling cosmetics company and turned it into an empire. But suddenly, as she prepares to launch a new perfume line, Mimi is faced with hidden threats at every turn. Her efforts to further expand the enormously successful Miray Corporation could be sabotaged from within by her own treacherous family, for there is a dangerous rot beneath the surface of the wealthy and aristocratic “Magnificent Myersons”: a dark tradition of lies, sexual perversity, and criminal activity that could undermine everything Mimi hopes to accomplish. With the discovery of her husband’s affair and the return of real estate magnate Michael Horowitz, her first and most enduring love, Mimi must determine whom she can trust—especially in light of the shocking revelations that are about to emerge regarding the birth of the Miray Corporation.
In both his bestselling nonfiction (“Our Crowd”, The Right People) and fiction (Carriage Trade, The Auerbach Will) author Stephen Birmingham has demonstrated an unparalleled understanding of the ways of America’s extremely rich. This unique knowledge comes into glorious play in his blistering novel Shades of Fortune, a thrilling and unforgettable breakneck ride through the darkest passageways of wealth and success.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Returning to the milieu of the New York German-Jewish families he profiled in Our Crowd , Birmingham here creates the fictional ``magnificent Myersons.'' And with the exception of his heroine Mireille ``Mimi'' Myerson, director of the Miray cosmetic empire, a nastier group would be hard to find. The founder of the dynasty, Mimi's arrogant, snobbish tyrant grandfather Adolphe, is dead, but his widow, nee Fleurette Guggenheim, and his surviving children, pederast Edwin (called Edwee) and kleptomanic Nonie, are equally rapacious. About to launch a multimillion-dollar campaign to introduce a new perfume, Mimi is distracted by the discovery that her husband, WASP lawyer Bradford Moore, is having an affair, and that her son, Badger, despises his Jewish relations. At the same time, she finds that her first (and never forgotten) love, Michael Horowitz, an aggressive, nouveau-riche industrial raider, is buying up Miray stock, possibly for a hostile takeover. The narrative gains further suspense from several mysteries, including the disappearance of Adolph's old diaries, which hold the key to sordid events in the company's past. Whether dropping names of New York's cafe society or describing items such as a Sevres vase or a Goya painting, Birmingham has a firm grasp of authentic background details. But his distaste for his characters and several gratuituous swipes (Leonard Lauder has a ``fat, dopey face'' and the Carlyle has roaches) reveal a mean streak. 100,000 copy first printing; $100,000 ad/promo; paperback sale to Berkley; Literary Guild main selection.
