Royal Coconut Beach Lunch Club by Diane Bergner
Julia Wild was thrilled to trade her legal briefcase for stiletto heels and a glam wardrobe when she accepted the position as a high society fundraiser at a prestigious performing arts center. The Addison Center is supported by mega-donations from the ultra-rich in Royal Coconut Beach, but the gala lifestyle is a minefield.
As if the punishing schedule isn't enough, Julia's boss is having an affair with an important donor (is this what it takes to get big donations?) and someone is trying to sabotage her job. Even as she begins to doubt her new career choice, she weakens to the seduction of elite social circles and the allure of becoming a fundraising rainmaker.
But what really matters are the fascinating and strong-willed women who become her confidantes. They meet regularly for lunch, gossip, subtle lessons, and cocktails - while they dissect the wealth-fueled dynamics of the rich and powerful.
The deeper Julia is drawn into this world, the more reality and fantasy blur, and fault lines in her marriage surface. When she meets a debonair Argentinian billionaire, moral ambiguities and temptations are stirred. Will this fascinating man push her to her limit? Will she listen to her new companions who offer their smarts and feminist sensibilities?
It is only when a suspicion caused by an untimely death blows up the carefully constructed glittering mask of the moneyed set that Julia realizes she must decide whose side to take-and how willing she is to risk everything? book editor spends one last summer on Fire Island in this sparkling and surprising new novel from the author of A Shoe Story.
As a book editor, Julia Morse lived and breathed stories. Whether with her pen to a manuscript or curled up with a book while at her beloved Fire Island cottage, her imagination alight with a good tale, she could anticipate practically any ending. The ending she’d never imagined was her own.
To be fair, no one expects to die at thirty-seven. So when the unthinkable happens to Julia, rather than following the light at the end of the proverbial tunnel, she chooses to spend one last summer near those she loves most.
As she follows her adoring, novelist husband Ben to their—unexpectedly full—home on Fire Island, she discovers the ripple affect her life has had on the trajectory of so many: her baseball loving, young-at-heart neighbor who believes it’s best not to go it alone, two bright-eyed teenagers eager to become adults, and her best friend who must shake off heartbreak for a new chance at love.
With poignant comedy and insight, On Fire Island is an ode to the stories all around us and to the brightest types of loves…for the people closest to you and the places that shape you.
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