August 2015

I read EVERYBODY RISE by Stephanie Clifford back in December in an early manuscript. I was on the Outer Banks, the wind was blowing and I craved a big, juicy book. And that is exactly what I got. At the time the book did not have a cover, but when I saw it, I thought it was perfect. The gilded chandelier screams Lilly Pulitzer, the patron saint of the old moneyed set. Set in 2006, before the big money crash, it has all the go-go-go juices that fueled those days.

Evelyn’s mother, Barbara, is a wannabe, and in some ways that has shaped Evelyn’s entire world. Growing up, her mom wanted her to meet the “right” people, and success would mean being accepted into the moneyed classes --- the ones where the words “charity ball,” “debutantes” and “trust fund” are given. The kinds of people who use summer as a verb, not a noun. The ones whose camps in the Adirondacks are actually chic lodges and whose houses in the Hamptons have the “right” addresses.

Seduced by the idea of this world, Evelyn figures a way in, by working for a high-end website, where acceptance comes by invitation. Just the kind of invite this crowd would covet having. She snares one of the “right” people, and from there doors open. Suddenly, Evelyn is caught up in the rush of being on the inside, not realizing that she has neither the cachet nor the cash to make it there. Credit card debt mounts, the world starts swirling, and suddenly Evelyn is in way, way, way over her head.

At the same time, the illusion that her mother has built about her own life is fracturing. Her past is catching up with her, as well as her husband’s dirty dealing.

EVERYBODY RISE is fast-paced and a perfect end-of-summer read. I see beach blankets with it on Labor Day weekend. There are comparisons to Edith Wharton’s THE HOUSE OF MIRTH, which I confess to not reading, but now wanting to read. It also would make for a fun book club discussion for twentysomethings.