Katharine Epstein, a sixty-one-year-old woman, had lived her life in the lap of luxury. She was born into money. Her father was a successful New York attorney in a white-shoe law firm and her mother was from a prominent Protestant American family. Katharine fell in love with a handsome Jewish medical student, Laurence Epstein, when she was in her late teens and ultimately married him. Laurence's parents were religious and were Holocaust survivors. They lived on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. Laurence had a sister who left home at the age of eighteen.
After Katharine and Laurence married, Laurence's sister gave birth to an illegitimate boy whom she planned to give up for adoption. Katharine and Laurence adopted and raised the boy, Daniel. The couple also had three other children: Gwen, Elliott and Richard. Laurence and Katharine had been married for over forty years when Laurence died. A daunting, posthumous letter from Laurence is delivered to Katharine and her family by her father-in-law the evening before her husband's burial, exposing long-held family secrets.
The novel is about Katharine and her family, and the emotional journey she travels from the time her husband dies to the revelations after his death. We see her metamorphosis as she is faced with many challenges. This riveting family saga exposes murder, deceit and greed, and the pressures of wealth, family life, love and truth. The story delves into the soul of human character by exploring family relationships, sexuality, sibling rivalry, illness, homosexuality and life.
