Riverside Drive

The bestselling epic about urban life and love in the roaring Reagan 80’s. It is about five households on Riverside Drive in Manhattan who share the same cleaning lady and what happens after the clients all meet each other for the first time. (Hint: The neighborhood is never the same again!) There are two major love affairs which dominate the novel--a married man and a divorced woman; a married woman and a bisexual anchorwoman)—and there are a number of smaller dramas unfolding simultaneously, involving everything from insider trading to alcoholism to the foster-care system. Two New York industries also dominate the storyscape, television and book publishing. This was Van Wormer’s first novel (a Main Selection of the Literary Guild), which resulted in years of reader-demand for updates about many of the characters, those subsequent novels which fans came to nickname “The Alexandra Chronicles.” The New York Times Book Review said: “What the television show “Thirtysomething” is to “Dynasty,” “Riverside Drive” is to the usual frenzied, cynical Manhattanites. No lowlifes or high fliers here. Instead, 8 of the 10 characters are decent, compassionate, patient and even self-sacrificing… The book’s concerns are meaningful and not sensationalized; rotten bosses; love (heterosexual and lesbian), loneliness, children. And it is comforting to find characters who pitch in immediately to help one another.” The Los Angeles Times said, “Hot enough to melt the type on the printed page!”