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Palm Beach

ebook
1 of 1 copy available
1 of 1 copy available

“Difficult to put down. . . . The novel is itself like a sandy beach, equal parts beautiful and uncomfortable. . . . Lines blur and expectations aren’t met, keeping readers on their toes. . . . makes for a surprisingly fast-paced Palm Beach.” —Associated Press

A thought-provoking page-turner from the author of When You Read This and Privilege that captures the painful divide between the haves and have-nots and the seductive lure of the American dream. 

Living in a tiny Queens apartment, Rebecca and her husband Mickey typify struggling, 30-something New Yorkers—he’s an actor, and she’s a freelance journalist. But after the arrival of their baby son, the couple decides to pack up and head for sunny, comfortable Palm Beach, where Mickey’s been offered a sweet deal managing the household of a multimillionaire Democratic donor. 

Once there, he quickly doubles his salary by going to work for a billionaire: venture capitalist Cecil Stone. Rebecca, a writer whose beat is economic inequality, is initially horrified: she pillories men like Stone, a ruthless businessman famous for crushing local newspapers. So no one is more surprised than her when she accepts a job working for Cecil’s wife as a ghostwriter, thinking of the excellent pay and the rare, inside look at this famous Forbes-list family. What she doesn’t expect is that she’ll grow close to the Stones, or become a regular at their high-powered dinners. And when a medical crisis hits, it’s the Stones who come to their rescue, using their power, influence, and wealth to avert catastrophe. 

As she and Mickey are both pulled deeper into this topsy-turvy household, they become increasingly dependent on their problematic benefactors. Then when she discovers a shocking secret about the Stones, Rebecca will have to decide: how many compromises can one couple make?

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    • Publisher's Weekly

      June 14, 2021
      Adkins (Privilege) delves into the world of Florida’s wealthy excess with the fluffy story of a young family’s move from New York City to Palm Beach. When actor Mickey damages his vocal chords, his theater career ends and he takes a lucrative job managing a Florida estate, bringing with him his freelance journalist wife Rebecca and their eight-month-old son, Bash. About a month into the new job, neighbor and “vulture capitalist” Cecil Stone offers to double Mickey’s salary for a similar job. The socially conscious Rebecca is horrified that Cecil has built a fortune by decimating the companies he buys, though she gets cozy with Astrid, Cecil’s outspoken wife of 30 years, and begins to change her attitudes about the ultrarich. (Astrid even hires Rebecca to ghostwrite her memoirs.) After the couple learns Bash might have a dangerous genetic disorder, the Stones use their far-reaching connections and wealth to help him. While a subplot involving an insider-trading scam feels contrived, Adkins’s characters are reliably quirky, as with Cecil’s habit of hoarding ketchup packets, a condiment Astrid “didn’t believe in.” Though it’s not particularly memorable, it’ll keep readers turning the pages.

    • Booklist

      July 1, 2021
      Adkins' (Privilege, 2020) third novel is a unique twist on a fish-out-of-water story centered on a couple who relocate to Palm Beach from New York City. Mickey's a Broadway performer sidelined by a rare vocal injury and Rebecca is a crunchy journalist and new mother to their son, Bash. When he can no longer sing, Mickey falls back on the hospitality skills he learned as a struggling actor. His wealthy employer asks him to move south and manage his estate, at a salary Mickey cannot refuse. Once there, the erstwhile performer is poached by uber-wealthy vulture capitalist Cecil Stone to be his butler. Rebecca's magazine column dedicated to wealth inequality garners increasing attention, and she meets Mrs. Stone at an event she is covering, resulting in an invitation to ghostwrite her memoirs. Navigating life with infant Bash shifts from complicated to comfortable as the couple acclimates to living among the privileged. Fans of Jojo Moyes and Sally Rooney will appreciate Adkins' talent in weaving subtle events together to create complex characters whose persuasions evolve throughout.

      COPYRIGHT(2021) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

    • Library Journal

      August 13, 2021

      Are the rich different? Adkins (Privilege) attempts to answer that in this entertaining read. Mickey, a Broadway actor, loses his voice and his career. He's always hustled side jobs; now he lucks into a full-time job in Palm Beach for one of his clients and moves with his wife and eight-month-old baby to Florida. Mickey quickly finds an even better job as butler to a billionaire couple, the Stones, for twice the money. His journalist wife Rebecca is horrified that Mickey will consider working for Mr. Stone, the "vulture capitalist" who destroys every company he buys, but the money is too good to pass up--plus it leads to an opportunity for Rebecca to ghostwrite Mrs. Stone's memoirs. When Rebecca and Mickey's baby is diagnosed with a life-threatening illness, the Stones come to the rescue, causing the young couple to reexamine their feelings about the Stones and the power of money. VERDICT Adkins offers great fodder for book club discussions; her novel should appeal to readers who enjoyed Cristina Alger's The Darlings, Julian Fellowes's Snobs, or Sophie McManus's The Unfortunates.--Stacy Alesi, Eugene M. & Christine E. Lynn Lib., Lynn Univ., Boca Raton, FL

      Copyright 2021 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

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