Shades of Fortune [Audiobook, MP3 Audio, Unabridged] [MP3 CD]

Stephen Birmingham (Author), Roger Ellis (Reader)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 20, 2009

Mireille "Mimi" Myerson is the elegant, charming and ambitious president of Miray Corporation. As Mimi attempts to achieve her dreams for the company, family jealousies, dangerous deceptions and marital pitfalls threaten to compromise her goals. Battling forces from within and without, Mimi struggles to make difficult choices to determine her own - and the company's - destiny.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Returning to the milieu of the New York German-Jewish families he profiled in Our Crowd , Birmingham here creates the fictional "magnificent Myersons." And with the exception of his heroine Mireille "Mimi" Myerson, director of the Miray cosmetic empire, a nastier group would be hard to find. The founder of the dynasty, Mimi's arrogant, snobbish tyrant grandfather Adolphe, is dead, but his widow, nee Fleurette Guggenheim, and his surviving children, pederast Edwin (called Edwee) and kleptomanic Nonie, are equally rapacious. About to launch a multimillion-dollar campaign to introduce a new perfume, Mimi is distracted by the discovery that her husband, WASP lawyer Bradford Moore, is having an affair, and that her son, Badger, despises his Jewish relations. At the same time, she finds that her first (and never forgotten) love, Michael Horowitz, an aggressive, nouveau-riche industrial raider, is buying up Miray stock, possibly for a hostile takeover. The narrative gains further suspense from several mysteries, including the disappearance of Adolph's old diaries, which hold the key to sordid events in the company's past. Whether dropping names of New York's cafe society or describing items such as a Sevres vase or a Goya painting, Birmingham has a firm grasp of authentic background details. But his distaste for his characters and several gratuituous swipes (Leonard Lauder has a "fat, dopey face" and the Carlyle has roaches) reveal a mean streak. 100,000 copy first printing; $100,000 ad/promo; paperback sale to Berkley; Literary Guild main selection.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From the Inside Flap

The Bookcassette® format is a special recording technique developed as a means of condensing the full, unabridged audio text of a book to record it on fewer tapes. In order to listen to these tapes, you will need a cassette player with balance control to adjust left/right speaker output. Special adaptors to allow these tapes to be played on any cassette player are available through the publisher or some US retail electronics stores. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• MP3 CD
• Publisher: Brilliance Audio on MP3-CD; MP3 Una edition (November 20, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1441807934
• ISBN-13: 978-1441807939
• Product Dimensions: 7.4 x 5.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great family saga, November 28, 2003

By 

Beverley Strong (Australia) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Shades Of Fortune (Paperback)

Mimi Myerson, head of the Myerson family company of cosmetics and perfumes, rescued her grandfather's failing company and turned it into a huge, successful empire.She's about to launch a new fragrance,Mireille, named after herself, at the cost of a multi million dollar advertising campaign which could turn them back into a private company if successful or cripple them financially if the new fragrance doesn't "take". Family rivalries and jealousies threaten her venture and episodes from the past come back to haunt various family members. If you enjoy a big family saga with lots of descriptions of fashion, jewels, magnificent houses and furnishings, this is the book for you...I loved it !

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A HOUSE-DIVIDED FAMILY SAGA, August 9, 2008

By 

Suzi "Suzi Q" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Shades Of Fortune (Paperback)

Mimi Myerson takes over the family business and deals with her sometimes neurotic family members, her departed grandfather's sometimes ruthless manner she learns more and more about, her grandmother, Flo's, intuitive understanding of the past and present family with her maneuvering the situations around while claiming "I can't see in my old age" (but we know she does!), the brothers, sisters, husbands, wives who turn in different directions, leaving you to wonder just how they will turn out at the end of the book.
This family saga takes you to the rich and powerful people with names mentioned (Trump, Elizabeth Taylor, etc. and the cosmetic giants), and almost leaves you wondering where much of the personal information about these people came from?
Mimi's launching of a new fragrance is met with some hurdles, and you may find the book slow to start due to introducing you to the family members, but once you're into it, you won't put it down. During this launching you'll learn about perfumes and cosmetics, how they originated, and even how mens' interest in these items started. And to think it all starts in Mimi's family with one man who accidentally thickened a can of paint and turned it into nail polish!