The author of The First Wives Club returns to the trenches in this battle between the sexes set in American suburbia.
Three women let down by their men and the law:
Michelle – rescued from an abusive upbringing by her ‘perfect’ husband Frank, she values her life in middle-class suburban Westchester with her children and beautiful house, as the fairy-tale happy ending she always dreamed of. But she has always turned a blind eye to Frank’s job and the question of how he earns his considerable salary. When a police raid in the middle of the night traumatises her children and blows her life apart, she is brought face to face with the ugly truth.
Jada – one of the few black middle class women in Westchester, she struggles to keep her husband and three children together. But Clinton has been out of a job for years and leaves her to earn the money through her career in a bank and to look after the children and the house to boot – while he spends his time with a lover. But when Jada gives him an ulimatum, he leaves – unfortunately he takes the children with him and, twisting the facts, successfully sues for custody. Jada is left, distraught to pay all the bills.
Kamberleigh – she is the lawyer who advises Jada and, later, Michelle, but she has problems of her own. Married into a wealthy Ivy League family, Ham is devastated when, on their first wedding anniversary, Reid confesses to an affair – it turns out, with Kam’s best friend! Furious, and pregnant, Kam takes a new job in a womens legal centre where she can help victims like Jada and Michelle.
The three form a bond of friendship based on shared experience, and each one finds a way to fight back.
