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Overview
Meet Lily White, Long Island criminal defense lawyer. Smart, savvy, and down-to-earth, Lee can spot a phony the way her haughty mother can spot an Armani. Enter handsome career con man Norman Torkelson, charged with strangling his latest mark after bilking her out of her life's savings. As the astonishing twists and reverses of the Torkelson case are revealed, so too is the riveting story behind Lee;s life.
Critically acclaimed New York Times bestselling author Susan Isaacs has crafted her most dazzling novel of manners and morality. Lily White is a brilliant story of con artists and true lovers, of treachery and devotion—and of one brave lawyer's triumphant fight for justice.
What happens when the dreams you dare to dream really do come true? Only deception, betrayal, and life lessons like you wouldn't believe! Susan Isaacs, the bestselling author of After All These Years and Compromising Positions, has crafted her most dazzling novel of manners and morality, Long Island-style. Lily White is a seamless story of con artists and true lovers, of treachery and devotion—and of one brave lawyer's triumphant fight for injustice.
Synopsis
Meet Lily White, Long Island criminal defense lawyer. Smart, savvy, and down-to-earth, Lee can spot a phony the way her haughty mother can spot an Armani. Enter handsome career con man Norman Torkelson, charged with strangling his latest mark after bilking her out of her life's savings. As the astonishing twists and reverses of the Torkelson case are revealed, so too is the riveting story behind Lee;s life.
Critically acclaimed New York Times bestselling author Susan Isaacs has crafted her most dazzling novel of manners and morality. Lily White is a brilliant story of con artists and true lovers, of treachery and devotion—and of one brave lawyer's triumphant fight for justice.
Baltimore Sun
The ingredients for another bestseller.
Editorials
New York Times Book Review
A big, fat, happy feast of a book. . . . [Isaacs's] most confident and appealing. . . . [She] is both funny and piercing, a highly satisfying combination.People
Murder, sex, and humor make for a wickedly entertaining combination.Newsday
Her richest book yet.Boston Globe
Riveting. . . . Best of all is the character of Lee, smart and sassy . . . self-deluded at the same time. Her good-humored, self-knowing, self-mocking voice is a treat for the ear.Baltimore Sun
The ingredients for another bestseller.Los Angeles Times
A one-volume vacation reader.Cincinnati Post
Stunning. . . . [Isaacs] has created an ingenious novel that breaks out of the mystery genre. In fact, it sets the genre — in which, typically, the killer is brought to justice — on its ear.St. Paul Pioneer Press
Touching, funny, and fast-paced.Atlanta Journal
Shiny fun, jampacked full of story.Cleveland Plain Dealer
"Lily White is a winner . . . with wit, insight, and enough twists and turns to keep the pages turning.Entertainment Weekly
Isaacs delivers witty, wicked satire from beginning to end.Fresh Air
Not only an entertaining legal drama, but a chilling account of family scapegoating. . . . Reading this smart, sassy book on the beach will be the very picture of civilization and its contents.Glamour
Lily is a funny, nervy survivor of some major betrayals...one house guest you'll wish could stay longer.Miami Herald
A well-written, moving story that will keep the reader engrossed all the way.Library Journal
Criminal defense lawyer Lily White thought she had it all: a career, a husband, and a darling daughter. But just as she is facing her toughtest case yet, her husband says he wants out of the marriageto marry Lily's sisterand he wants to take the daughter with him. Start thinking about who will play Lily in the movie, since Isaacs's novels usually end up on the silver screen.Kirkus Reviews
Isaacs achieves a personal best with this warmly spirited tale of a Long Island lawyer conned over and over by life and love.
Lily "Lee" White, daughter of a wealthy WASPophile Jewish furrier and a beautiful, vain, neglectful mother, had always done her best to transcend her shallow background, attending NYU Law, marrying the love of her life, and serving the people in the Manhattan D.A.'s office. For a while, it seemed she had succeeded, as her attorney-husband, Jasper "Jazz" Taylor, the rich, Episcopalian boy next door, joined a prestigious Wall Street firm and Lee reaped her first major triumphs in the courtroom. But Jazz wasn't comfortable as a lawyer, and Lee couldn't help feeling betrayed when he moved her back to their hometown of Shorehaven and became president of her father's ritzy Manhattan fur boutique. Joining the Long Island D.A.'s homicide department, Lee did find some comfort in a friendship with Will Stewart, the super-elegant head of the department, who held her hand as Lee adjusted to the strains of motherhood, cared for Jazz's Down's-syndromeinflicted younger brother, helped her younger sister, Robin, recover from a heroin addiction, and tried to put up with a mother disappointed in Lee's mediocre sense of style. The strain proved too much when Jazz and Robin announced they were in love, wanted to marry, and intended to sue for custody of Lee's and Jazz's child. Now, while representing a con man who seduces lonely women for their money and may have actually murdered one, Lee reviews her own foolish moves in life and takes comfort in the knowledge that her exile from an unloving family and deceitful marriage has left room for a happier, if much more offbeat, life than she ever could have imagined.
As always, Isaacs's strengths lie in her feisty characters, lively pacing, and perfectly tuned comic sense.