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“A grand, sweeping panorama . . . richly written, finely detailed . . . vivid and memorable.”—Daily News (New York) Yearning for a better life, Anna Friedman fled Poland for New York at the turn of the century. Finding work as a maid for the Werner family, Anna discovers an elegance beyond her dreams—and the passion of Paul Werner, a man beyond her reach, even when she is in his arms. But it is Joseph Friedman whom she marries. And through an act of illicit passion that will haunt her though all her days, Anna lifts Joseph from poverty to a wealth on which the Friedman dynasty would be based for generations. Sweeping from Jazz Age New York to Nazi Germany to a sun-baked Israeli kibbutz, Evergreen has become a modern American classic—an epic novel that spans three generations of an unforgettable family—and exposes the heart of an extraordinary woman: her marriage, her children, her deceit. “A magnificent story . . . this beautifully written book will be treasured and reread for many years to come.”—Library Journal
From a quiet turn-of-the-century village in upstate New York to war-torn London, from the bedsides of the rural poor to the life-and-death urgency of a New York hospital, comes a powerful epic of three generations of doctors in one family. The Farrell family are dedicated, brilliant... and driven to the edge of destruction by a love no force can suppress.
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The triumphant saga that began in Evergreen continues A woman of hidden desires, Hennie De Rivera has none of the wealth enjoyed by her relatives, the Werner banking dynasty. But tall, shy Hennie has grand dreams, especially of daring activist Dan Roth, who invites controversy by fighting for New York's poorest immigrants. Breaking society's rules might have devastating consequences for this passionate woman—and for her nephew Paul Werner, who weds his debutante fiancée while still yearning for his mother's beautiful maid, Anna Friedman. And amid heartbreaking discoveries and the gathering clouds of World War I, the stirring family saga begun in Evergreen continues with an unforgettable tale of forbidden passions, intimate secrets, and sweeping social change. . . .
First came the sin. Then the lies. He was handsome, charming, irresistable, and an eighteen-year-old lady-killer, her uncle Cliff's stepson, Ted. But in one terrible night he would shatter the life of fourteen-year-old Charlotte Dawes and nearly destroy her family. Years afterward, Charlotte would remember that night with fear and loathing, with pain that could be banished only by her work as a gifted architect, building a new world for others as she conceals her own. For Charlotte's family, prime employers in New England mill town, what happened to Charlotte was the beginning of the end. Her father is left shattered by his daughter's pain. Her troubled mother is unable to cope. And her distinguished family has fallen from grace, plunged into debt. The only rock that sustains them in their darkest hours is a woman whose own guilty secret has given her the power to ruin--or resurrect--the family to whom she owes her life. Belva Plain's searing novel cuts to the heart of a family ravaged by secrecy. But it is ultimately a story of redemption, the kind that grows when one person dares to tell the truth.
With three children, a beautiful home and her loving husband Adam, Margaret Crane is a woman many would envy. When Adam begins working late at the office, Margaret is sure it's just the rumoured takeover of his company - until she meets Randi, the other woman. As the life Margaret knows comes crashing down, her adopted daughter Nina revels in New York. Nina is sure she's found Mr. Right in Keith, a brilliant investment banker. But Keith has a secret he hasn't told Nina. As Nina clings to stolen weekends with Keith and Margaret plays the dutiful wife, a rift develops between the two women. Keith is not welcome in Margaret's home. And Nina herself is the other woman...
“Well written, fascinating, rich in plot and characters . . . presents [not only an interesting story, but] a portrait of the Jewish community in the 19th-century South.”—Newark Sunday Star-Ledger She was the exquisite daughter of a wealthy Jewish merchant. From a charmed girlhood in opulent New Orleans, she would be swept into the cataclysm of the Civil War. Forced to choose between her duties as a Southern wife and mother and her love for a forbidden man, a forbidden cause, Miriam Raphael is at the center of the whirlwind in a spellbinding novel of divided loyalties and divided hearts. “Seductive . . . moves along briskly through the kind of territory her avid readers most appreciate.”—Publishers Weekly “As a romance, Crescent City can’t miss!”—The New York Times Book Review
In her stunning new novel, New York Times bestselling author Belva Plain has written a compelling story of family and fortune, beauty and betrayal. With unerring insight and emotional power, she penetrates a shattered marriage to explore one of the most provocative issues of our time. What happens when the picture-perfect marriage dissolves? In her unsparing evocation of a family in crisis, Belva Plain goes to the heart of a marriage between a naïve young artist and her handsome physician husband. At first everything is idyllic. Then one terrible night she commits an act she will regret for the rest of her life. An act that gives her husband the ultimate weapon: blackmail. The price of his silence is uncontested custody of their two children. When her own beautiful, angry mother wants to know why she won't fight for custody, she can give no answers. For she alone knows, or believes she knows, what really happened on that fateful night. In a novel that is both provocative and heartbreaking, Belva Plain proves herself the writer who sets the standard for family stories, a novelist of incomparable depth and grace.
“Belva Plain is a talented tale-spinner with an almost Dickensian ability to keep her stories going.”—Philadelphia Inquirer Paul Werner watched the proud, daring immigrant Anna marry another man. But his desire for her haunts him...even after he weds the elegant Mimi, a woman of his own class. Now, as Paul wrestles with the dark demons of forbidden passion, his family and business are plunged into a maelstrom of tragedy and social changes. Ahead lie the dark days of the Depression, the rise of pure evil in Europe, and a war that will change the world forever. But for Paul Werner a more personal struggle awaits—a choice of a lifetime and a new beginning, or the most painful of final good-byes. Belva Plain’s Tapestry takes up the threads of lives encountered in her beloved epic, Evergreen, to create an entirely new drama of a family’s loyalties and divisions, its secrets, and its destiny. . . .
Robert and Lynn Ferguson are a picture-perfect couple with two beautiful daughters and a lovely home in an exclusive Connecticut community. Robert is on the fast track of a major corporation. Lynn is devoted to her family and good works. But in the Ferguson's closed doors hide a painful secret Lynn must keep from the world-and her children-at any cost... Not even the Fergusons's best friends, Josie and Bruce Lehman, know of Lynn's shame. Social worker Josie sees her bruises distrusts the too-ambitious, too perfect Robert, and suspects the real cause of the children's increasingly disturbed behavior. But not even Josie can pierce Lynn's wall of silence, a wall that will not crumble until Lynn is forced to face herself-and the truth-at last. Belva Plain's searing novel of a family's heartbreak, a woman's courage, and a subject too often talked about only in whispers.
Caroline Hartzinger flees wartime Europe with a shattered life and a devastating secret. Pregnant and unwed, she arrives in America in 1939. Joel Hirsch offers marriage and respectability, hoping one day to earn her love, if not the passion she feels for a man whose memory haunts them both. With Joel, Caroline builds a new life, determined to bury the past - until her daughter Eve brings Caroline's carefully crafted world crashing down again, driven by rage to discover the truth. Now the legacy that has tainted lives and put generations at risk is Eve's secret to keep. But with it comes a gift - a new sister who offers hope, and a truth that will finally break the hold of the past.