Rittenhouse Square

A good-looking, indomitable Philadelphia woman from a working-class background strives for fame, fortune, and power in the city's wealthiest and most prestigious square, with the help of a brilliant renegade architect

Journalist and novelist Zellerbach ( Cavett Manor ) breaks into hardcover with this snappy rags-to-riches tale of love, revenge and real estate. Dynamic beauty Vittoria "Torie" Di Angelo, whose father is in prison for attempted bribery, rises from humble beginnings in South Philly to become Philadelphia's wonder-woman developer. Having been taunted as a girl in the mayor's mansion on fashionable Rittenhouse Square, Torie vows to raze the crumbling buildings there and reconstruct it with towers of steel and glass. But the snobbish Old Guard clings to historic preservation, detesting Torie's vision of the city. As she fights her way to the top, Torie collects lovers, sycophants and foes--men who don't hesitate to call her a Judas and a puttana . Before finding the right man, Torie tangles with her slippery cousin Tony Silvano; an arrogant socialist architect, Nielson Hughes; and PR man Ellory Davis, who smoothes her rough-diamond exterior without destroying her fire. Besides creating a heroine who is brainy, tough and simpatica , Zellerbach provides an impressively detailed view of the urban renewal scene.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

This fast-paced contemporary novel has all the trappings of success--and lives up to its promise. The beautiful, determined heroine, Vittoria Di Angelo, born on the wrong side of the tracks, snubbed and laughed at by Philadelphia's wealthy elite, vows that she will show the city she is as good as anyone who resides in it--even those along exclusive Rittenhouse Square. In the process of wheeling and dealing her way to a fortune in real estate, becoming in effect a female version of Donald Trump, she loses family, husband, and even her child. All are sacrificed to her unquenchable ambition until she is finally forced to examine her motives and her heart. Engrossing, entertaining, and definitely for popular fiction collections.
- Marilyn Jordan, North Miami P.L., Fla .
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.