Lily White - Hardcover

Isaacs, Susan

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0060176075 ISBN 13: 9780060176075

Publisher: Harpercollins, 1996

Synopsis

While working on the case of a con man accused of murdering his latest victim, criminal defense attorney Lee White is devastated when her husband Jasper asks for a divorce, demanding custody of their daughter, to marry Lee's sister, Robin

About this title

About the Author

Susan Issacs has written eight novels, including her latest, Red, White, and Blue. Her other bestselling books are After All These Years, Compromising Positions, Shining Through, Magic Hour, Close Relations, Almost Paradise, and Lily White. She lives on Long Island.

Reviews

YA-Lee White, a lawyer, claims in her first sentence, "I was never a virgin." She avoids succumbing to the superficial values of her wealthy Jewish family and struggles to be accepted in their WASP neighborhood. Excelling in school, Lee marries well and constructs a successful career as a prosecutor. She eventually accepts the case of Norman Torkelson, a con man charged with strangling his latest female mark. As Lee narrates her story, she unravels twin mysteries-one, the personal betrayals of her family, who were certainly not the Cleavers; the other, whether Norman or his ravishingly beautiful girlfriend committed the murder. What Lee successfully proves is that straightforward, honest people are susceptible to being conned on all levels of their lives. At the end, she is betrayed by all and is not particularly wiser. YAs should find this novel intriguing and thought-provoking.
Linda Diane Townsend, formerly of Fairfax County Public Schools, VA
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Marjorie Morningstar meets Nancy Drew in Isaacs's latest, which succeeds as both a coming-of-age story and a legal thriller. Her wit honed by familiarity with two milieus she knows well, Isaacs creates a character who moves between the conspicuous consumption of upwardly mobile and dying-to-be-assimilated Jews on Long Island and the criminal justice system (Isaacs's husband is a well-known attorney), where a successful trial lawyer sometimes must defend unsavory clients. These spheres are joined in Lily White, nee Lily Rose Weiss, who narrates the sections of the novel that deal with her defense of oily con man Norman Torkelson and her suspicions that his gorgeous girlfriend actually committed the crime for which he is charged, the murder of a "mark" whom he had fleeced out of thousands of dollars by promising to marry her. Running in tandem are chapters that describe Lily's self-absorbed parents' rise in the world and the ludicrous ways in which they try to fit into WASP society. It's especially ironic that when Lily weds super-WASP Jasper "Jazz" Foster, whom she has adored from childhood, the marriage succumbs to pressures that arise as much from class differences as they do from character. Irony succeeds irony when Jazz declares himself in love with Lily's sister, Robin, Lily's complete antithesis. If it sometimes seems that these parallel narratives should have been two different books, most readers will bond with Lily and gladly switch back and forth between the stages of her life. For on one level, Isaacs has created a pitch-perfect social satire; on another, while the suspense is never spine tingling, she has written a psychological thriller whose portraits of an amoral conman and his mate, of the dehumanizing effects of the prison system and of the stages of a criminal investigation are rendered with snappy authenticity. Literary Guild and Doubleday $250,000 main selections; ad/promo; simultaneous audio; author tour; rights: William Morris Agency.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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. (Literary Guild main selection; $250,000 ad/promo; author tour) -- Copyright ©1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Lily White, better know as Lee, is a criminal lawyer from Long Island. Her current client is a con man who charms lonely women out of their assets. Normally nonviolent, he is accused of murdering his most recent mark. Complications arise when his beautiful young accomplice confesses to the murder. Lee's client, who has protested his innocence, suddenly insists on taking the rap, and Lee finds herself in the middle of a mystery?or perhaps another con?as she sorts out the truth. Isaacs, well known for popular novels like Compromising Positions (LJ 3/1/78), lays out Lee's life through a series of flashbacks. The result is a sometimes funny, sometimes poignant exploration of love, betrayal, and, ultimately, the meaning of family. This intriguing and well-written book should be in demand.
-?Barbara E. Kemp, SUNY at Albany
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Can a tough, smart Jewish girl from a nouveau riche Long Island family find happiness with a gay black Republican? The answer is a resounding yes in the ever-witty Isaacs' latest genre-bending mystery-comedy. Told in chapters alternating between her personal life and her work, this is the story of Lily White, a funny, ambitious criminal-defense attorney. Lily becomes overinvolved in the case of her current client, Norman Torkelson, a con man who woos and then bilks desperate, lonely women. Something went terribly wrong in his last con, and the mark ended up dead. Now Torkelson is charged with murder; is he guilty, or was his gorgeous, ditsy girlfriend--prone to wearing orange lipstick and neon-colored miniskirts--overcome by jealous rage? As Lily pulls out all the stops in trying to determine what really happened, she also reveals her painful personal life--her increasing distance from her blue-blooded, ne'er-do-well husband, his startling revelation that he is in love with her sister, and her subsequent efforts to build a makeshift family with her best friend and mentor, an elegant gay black man. Aside from the many great one-liners and a gutsy, likable heroine, Isaacs offers a host of zinging observations on the notion of family, the politics of our criminal-justice system, and the importance of good eye shadow, all wrapped up in an interesting plot. Now that's entertainment. Joanne Wilkinson

Edition details

• Publisher: Harpercollins
• Publication date: 1996
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0060176075
• ISBN 13: 9780060176075
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 459