Fortune Is a Woman and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle. Learn more

Buy New

or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.
or
Amazon Prime Free Trial required. Sign up when you check out. Learn More
Buy Used
Used - Good See details
$3.18 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details

or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.
 
   
Kindle Edition
 
   
More Buying Choices
Have one to sell? Sell yours here
Fortune Is a Woman
 
 
Start reading Fortune Is a Woman on your Kindle in under a minute.

Don't have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here, or download a FREE Kindle Reading App.

Fortune Is a Woman [Mass Market Paperback]

Elizabeth Adler (Author)
4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (28 customer reviews)

Price: $7.99 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details
  Special Offers Available
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o
In Stock.
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com. Gift-wrap available.
Only 9 left in stock--order soon (more on the way).
Want it delivered Tuesday, January 31? Choose One-Day Shipping at checkout. Details

Formats

Amazon Price New from Used from
Kindle Edition --  
Hardcover --  
Paperback, Import --  
Mass Market Paperback $7.99  

Book Description

December 5, 1992
The three met in the aftermath of San Francisco's devastating 1906 earthquake--the Mandarin Lai Tsin, a runaway American heiress, and a young Englishwoman. Against all odds they made their dreams come true, building one of the world's largest trading companies and most luxurious hotels... They had only each other--and bloody secrets to bury even as they rose to dizzying heights, wary of love yet vulnerable to passion in its most dangerous forms... The Mandarin would pass his multi-billion-dollar empire only to the women in the Lai Tsin dynasty--along with one last devastating truth....

Sweeping from the turn of the century through the 1960's, from the Orient to San Francisco and New York, Elizabeth Adler has written a magnificent novel of new wealth and old privilege, family passions and secret shame, of women surviving, triumphant, in the riveting saga of romantic intrigue.

Special Offers and Product Promotions

  • This item is eligible for our 4-for-3 promotion. Eligible products include select Books and Home & Garden items. Buy any 4 eligible items and get the lowest-priced item free. Here's how (restrictions apply)

Frequently Bought Together

Fortune Is a Woman + Legacy of Secrets + Now or Never
Price For All Three: $23.97

Show availability and shipping details

Buy the selected items together
  • In Stock.
    Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
    Eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details

  • Legacy of Secrets $7.99

    In Stock.
    Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
    Eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details

  • Now or Never $7.99

    In Stock.
    Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
    Eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details


Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought


Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Adler follows up Peach and The Rich Shall Inherit with another glitzy roller-coaster saga. Using standard rags-to-riches ingredients, she gives us a trio of Cinderellas who suffer and survive their way to fortune, romance and a predictable happy ending. Set in turn-of-the-century San Francisco and Hong Kong, the novel tells the stories of lifelong friends Francie Harrison and Annie Aysgarth and of Francie's daughter Lysandra. All three are saintly women who've been hideously mistreated by the men in their lives. Indeed, virtually every male in this novel is either a brutal monster or a weakling. Fortunately, the misused heroines all fall under the benevolent influence of a mysterious Chinese mandarin, Lai Tsin; Francie, indeed, becomes his concubine. He guides them through their troubles and bequeaths them a legacy of worldly and philosophical riches. Though Adler's historical setting is appealing, the characters are stereotypes, drawn with no shades of gray, and they never come to life. The narrative drags where the author resorts to showing, not telling, and much of the plot hangs on bizarre coincidence. BOMC featured alternate.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Kirkus Reviews

Opium dream for shopgirls, without a pinch of grit in its 448 pages; by the author of such glitzy joys as The Property of a Lady (1990) and The Rich Shall Inherit (1989). Plot hippity-hops back and forth over a century of ties between San Francisco and Hong Kong, beginning in 1937 when mandarin Lai Tsin--San Francisco's ``most mysterious, most notorious, and richest man,'' and ``grandfather'' of Lysandra Lai Tsin, who is the illegitimate daughter of Francie Harrison--dies and leaves baby Lysandra a personal fortune of $300 million (in pre-WW II dollars), plus ownership (as taipan) of Lai Tsin Corporation, a trading company worth $900 million and based in Hong Kong. Which is nice--taxwise--for six-year-old Lysandra. Francesca, her mother, is named head of the company until Lysandra turns 18. At this time, in 1937, Francie's best friend is ex-Yorkshirewoman Annie Aysgarth, who has risen from poverty and is now president of Aysgarth Hotels International, a subsidiary of Lai Tsin Corp. Francie and Annie met during the San Francisco earthquake, during which Annie's lost brother Josh died--but not before impregnating Francie with Oliver. In 1906, Francie and Annie brought the poor coolie-gambler Lai Tsin great luck at poker, and he repays by taking them into his new and vastly expanding import-export business. Later, Francie has Lysandra out of wedlock with Buck Wingate, a three-time senator from California whose imperially snobbish wife Maryanne thinks he should run for president. However, Francie's horrible brother Harry, a distraught multimillionaire caught in the Depression, has the hots for Maryanne, who kills him when he starts to rape her, which leads to Buck and Francie's affair being exposed and Buck resigning his office. Then Lysandra comes of age and we discover Lai Tsin's deepest secret, that he's actually.... Never touches earth for a second. -- Copyright ©1991, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

  • Mass Market Paperback: 592 pages
  • Publisher: Dell (December 5, 1992)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0440211468
  • ISBN-13: 978-0440211464
  • Product Dimensions: 4.2 x 1.2 x 6.9 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (28 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #461,152 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Elizabeth Adler is a self-confessed romantic, a travel addict and a foodie, all of which she brings to the reader in her novels, along with a tough thrust of suspense and an unfolding mystery that keeps you on your toes. Elizabeth has lived in many countries and when she's not writing spends time discovering even more places to bring to you, with her husband, Richard - still in love after all these years - as are the characters featured in her past three novels, Mac Reilly the Malibu PI and Sunny Alvarez, his lover and side kick. You have to read about them to know them! Elizabeth lives in California and has the ability to take you to all those romantic places she knows so well, Capri, Venice, Tuscany, St. Tropez, Monte Carlo, and of course, Malibu. You will feel you are there, with her, sitting on that Italian terrace, sipping that coffee, smelling the delicious food, savoring the heat and the sunshine and the mystery unfolding for you. Elizabeth is five-three and wishes she were taller, blind as a bat without her glasses that anyway she is too vain to wear, and at 128 lbs till thinking about that diet. She has one daughter, Anabelle who is married to rock musician Eric Avery and two kitties, the Siamese, Sweet Pea who rules the household, and an adorable black cat Sunny.

 

Customer Reviews

28 Reviews
5 star:
 (23)
4 star:
 (2)
3 star:
 (3)
2 star:    (0)
1 star:    (0)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.7 out of 5 stars (28 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding Tale of Strong Women, August 2, 2004
By 
This review is from: Fortune Is a Woman (Mass Market Paperback)
When it comes to multi-generational novels featuring strong women protagonists, Elizabeth Adler excels. In this particular novel, she also exposes the reader to a different culture and language as the story moves between Hong Kong and San Francisco's China Town as well as Nob Hill.

Francesca Harrison is the abused daughter of a wealthy San Francisco banker and Annie Aysgarth is an English woman searching for her runaway brother. They meet in the aftermath of the devastating earthquake of 1906 that rocked San Francisco. They are befriended by Lai Tsin, another earthquake victim, and the three form a lifelong friendship that takes them into the 1960's by way of overwhelming tragedies and glamorous triumphs.

This book revolves around strong women who refuse to be destroyed by what fate deals them but create their own fortune, both personal and financial, in a riveting rags-to-riches tale told as only Elizabeth Adler can.

Well-drawn secondary characters, plot twists aplenty, and an amazing ending that will totally shock you combine to make this a must-read novel for fans of women's fiction.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews 
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No


10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent read, rich with tradition and history., August 18, 1999
By A Customer
This review is from: Fortune Is a Woman (Mass Market Paperback)
I enjoyed this book tremendously. It is much like Belva Plain's style (one of my favorite authors). It is a page-turner that you will not want to put down. I highly recommend this book, and this author. I am currently reading The Property of a Lady, which is engaging as well!
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews 
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No


8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars An incredible journey, August 7, 2000
By 
K. Lininger (FOUNTAIN VALLEY, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: Fortune Is a Woman (Mass Market Paperback)
This is probably one of the best books I have ever read. It spans over many decades. It's the story of Francie and her friend Lai Tsin. They meet after the great San Francisco earthquake. They are both homeless for their own reasons and develop a friendship that lasts a lifetime. Together they become multi-billionaires but still haven't found the happiness that they both deserve. This book is so powerful it is impossible to explain all of the different storylines that all come together. Read this book and you'll read it again and again.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews 
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No

Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
 
 
 
Most Recent Customer Reviews











Only search this product's reviews



Inside This Book (learn more)
First Sentence:
Tuesday, October 3rd Annie Aysgarth was a small, plump woman with large, expressive brown eyes, shiny conker-brown hair cut in a fashionable bob, and a permanent furrow between her brows. Read the first page
Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
gwailo woman, straw pannier, good joss, little sampan, padded quilts, village lord, shipboard romance
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Lai Tsin, San Francisco, Hong Kong, New York, Sammy Morris, Buck Wingate, Francesca Harrison, Harmon Harrison, Harry Harrison, Miss Harrison, Nob Hill, Francie Harrison, Annie Aysgarth, Philip Chen, Edward Stratton, Frank Aysgarth, California Street, Josh Aysgarth, Brice Leland, Elder Brother, Honorable Grandfather, Little Son, Miss Francie, Gold Mountain, Maryanne Wingate
New!
Concordance | Text Stats
Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | First Pages | Surprise Me!
Search Inside This Book:

Citations (learn more)
This book cites 4 books:
 
12 books cite this book:
See all 12 books citing this book

What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?


Tags Customers Associate with This Product

 (What's this?)
Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
 

Your tags: Add your first tag
 

Customer Discussions

This product's forum
Discussion Replies Latest Post
No discussions yet

Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
 


Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
Search all Amazon discussions
   
Related forums



So You'd Like to...


Create a guide


Look for Similar Items by Category


Look for Similar Items by Subject

Search Books by subject:








i.e., each book must be in subject 1 AND subject 2 AND ...