THE FORTUNE

by Michael Korda ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 1, 1988

The death of a New York billionaire in his West Side love nest sets off vibrations of anxiety, fury, envy, etc., among his greedy family--particularly when it is revealed that he has left control of his Fortune to the sweet young thing he secretly married in his last days. Korda, who found the clef to literary wealth and success with Queenie (1985), rams it into the keyhole of a jolly, filthy rich politician who says ""Hi, feller!"" all the time but who is, of course, not the late Nelson Rockefeller, who was merely acquainted with rather than married to the young lady with whom he breathed his last. Korda's hero is Arthur Bannerman, who never quite made it into the Governor's mansion but who did have a huge spread in Venezuela, an enormous estate on the Hudson, and a fabulous collection of abstract art. The heroine is lovely Elizabeth Alexandra ""Alexa"" Walden, who has turned her back on the haunted dairy farm in Illinois where she grew up under the too-fond eye of a rather tense dad and come to New York to find fame and fortune as a model. Alas, she is a little too zaftig for the runway, but her good looks and keen head for business find her a niche in the art world, where she chances to meet the melancholy widower Bannerman. Bannerman is blue because his children are permanently ungrateful and his mother does not understand or appreciate the sacrifices he has made for the family. Will Alexa share these burdens with a man old enough to be her great uncle? Sure. She even comes to love the big lug before he expires in her corn-fed arms, leaving her to face the wrath of his disinherited family. Before everything comes to a hysterical crisis at an Edwardian-style shooting party on the Bannerman estate, there will be appearances by someone who is awfully like the Mayflower Madam and someone who is awfully like Donald Trump. It's that kind of book. Like having an electric probe stuck in the hypothalamus and left there.

Pub Date: Feb. 1, 1988

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Summit/Simon & Schuster

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 1988

Categories: FICTION