MAISON JENNIE

by Julie Ellis ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 23, 1984

Jennie Adler, nÉe Straus, levitates from piece goods to merchant princess in this Terrytoon New Orleans Lib saga, 1900-23. For Jenny, whose beloved Papa dies when she's 14, making it in the frock biz is no piece of pecan pie: she's surrounded every step of her entrepreneurial way by the down-putting snarls and hollers of awful family men. . .and a mother straight from Endor. Sister Sophie is in marriage-bondage to fat husband Herman, who keeps her pregnant and on a tight budget; sister Evvie marries a conniving rat who rapes Jennie shortly before the wedding. (Mother just won't believe it--and Evvie's swino-husband will later run off with the family's savings.) Charming brother Danny dips into the till. Worst of all, there's Jennie's own oafish husband Mannie--who sides with Mother and Herman to block Jennie's attempts to improve and expand Papa's little piece-goods shop into a classy lingerie and dress boutique. And so Jennie pines for true love Marc Goldman, who (because of assorted crossed signals) sails off to Paris and marries a Countess. Then, however, through Marc's well-to-do-sister Nicky, Jennie meets gutsy old Grandmother Goldman, who knows that woman's place can be behind the cash register. So it's Grandmother G. who stakes Jennie to her first venture on her own--the shop to be called ""Maison Jennie."" The men of the family do their worst, of course; and Mother as usually aims for the jugular. But Jennie forges on, and soon she's opening shops in Pasadena and Santa Barbara. She's rich, buys a house for the family, puts her sisters to work; she takes care of the mother of Mannie's illegitimate child--even setting her up in the merchandising biz (as she does nice non-Jewish Felice, the former madam whom Danny marries); she procures an abortion for spoiled niece Carrie and sees that a neglected nephew goes to college. She even has that annual week of Paris in the spring with Marc. . .but when his countess dies, he marries Carrie just when Jennie's free of Mannie! And Mother screams on. By the author of The Hampton Women, The Magnolias, and such: contrived, cartoony, and just plain noisy.

Pub Date: July 23, 1984

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Arbor House

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1984

Categories: FICTION