Brilliant Divorces [Paperback]

June Flaum Singer (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 22, 2000

At superstar Honey Rose's 'divorce shower', Nora Grant, the head of a major Hollywood studio who started life out as Natalie Hall from the English countryside, who by all accounts has been married at least four-and-a-half times, quips: "The first time a woman marries it should be for love, the second time for convenience, the third time around should be once, just for the fun of it. Then one must marry for money because that's what really lasts. But when you have all four in one package, why, you've got a brilliant marriage!"But as Nora well knows, the other side of the coin is the brilliant divorce, and there are more to her divorces than meets the eye.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Singer's tawdry tale about a poor girl's rise to wealth through a series of doomed marriages makes for tiresome reading. In Beverly Hills, Nora Grant's perpetually angry stepdaughter Sam hosts a party for her best friend Honey Rose in anticipation of Honey's enormous divorce settlement. All of the party-goers are ex-wives with bitter stories, and Singer casually mingles their tales with a smattering of real-life Hollywood divorces like those of Norman Lear and Steven Spielberg. But it is Nora's matrimonial track record that makes up the bulk of the book. After a post-WW II marriage of convenience to a gay aristocrat, she weds an actor and a former American ambassador in quick succession before finally settling down with powerful studio magnate T. S. Grant (and Sam). The blatant admiration for rich ex-wives and the sordid, greedy atmosphere tarnishes Singer's ( The Debutantes ) efforts to construct a credible true love for Nora. While she documents incest, sleazy affairs, family greed, wife-beating and all manner of sexual couplings in competent prose, she fails to interest the reader in her heroine. The journey through Nora's life is very dull.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Beautiful, affectionate Nora Hall rises from the pubs of World War II London to a position of power in Hollywood in this fluffy but readable novel. Nora, who is married and widowed or divorced several times, is always searching futilely for the kind of true love she herself has to offer. Much of the story is devoted to her attempts to help Sam, her confused and alienated stepdaughter, and Sam's friends, Honey and Babe. The narrative jumps between past and present, glossing over so much of Nora's personal history that many of the characters are not fully realized. However, the veteran author of scads of successful commercial fiction, including The President's Women ( LJ 10/15/88), keeps the plot moving and readers' interest engaged. For light fiction collections.
- Barbara E. Kemp, Library Consultant, Reston, Va.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 548 pages
• Publisher: iUniverse (September 22, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0595007260
• ISBN-13: 978-0595007264
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,002,376 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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