Everything and More

by Jacqueline Briskin

Genres: Historical Fiction; Romance; 20th Century Romance

Synopsis

Two sisters—the beautiful and alluring Marilyn, and her smart and savvy sister, Roy—move to Beverly Hills with their mother after the death of their father, so that they can attend the posh public school Beverly Hills High. Though they live in relative poverty, Marilyn acts in all of the school plays at her mother’s insistence, and she is quickly noticed by Linc, the oldest son of the iconic movie producer Joshua Fernauld. Marilyn and Linc find themselves overtaken by a passionate romance that neither of them had expected, and they are devastated when Linc, who is in the air force, is called back to duty overseas. Marilyn’s acute loss continues to haunt her for years afterward when she and Linc suffer a tragedy worse than she had ever imagined.

Meanwhile, Roy graduates from high school and goes on to pursue her interest in fashion, becoming a successful businesswoman at an upscale boutique. Her closest friend from Beverly Hills High, Althea, is a wealthy and mysterious beauty, whose sharp remarks and unfailing composure hide dark and terrible secrets about her family life. Throughout their childhood, Althea is generous to Roy but deeply possessive of her. As the pair grows older, Althea’s antics worsen until the two find themselves embroiled in a love triangle with an artist named Gerry Horak, which threatens to tear them apart once and for all.

An epic tale that spans continents and nearly half a century, Everything and More is a suspenseful tour de force by a master at family drama. Readers will be hooked from the first page and surprised throughout by the passion, trickery, and emotion culminating in a shocking twist that no one ever saw coming.

Release date: January 13, 2015

Publisher: G.P. Putnam's Sons

Print pages: 480

Sample

Prologue

The gun was jarringly out of place.

This sunlit morning lacked the climate of violence. A breeze fragrant with citrus blossoms rippled through the small Beverly Hills back garden, while from beyond the tall redwood fencing came the peaceful racket of a suburban Sunday: a lawn mower’s roar, toddlers’ shrill cries, the masculine voices of Dodger warm-up coming from transistors—the home team was on a winning streak this June of 1970.

The two women facing each other across the handgun looked more as if they should be lunching together at the Bistro: both were in their early forties, handsome, and obviously well-to-do. One wore slacks with a smartly cut taupe blazer, the other a Chanel blouse and skirt.

There was a small click as the safety catch was released.

“This is all crazy,” said the woman in slacks. Because she had known her attacker for so many years, she ventured a step closer.

“Stop!”

The intended victim halted. As she stared at the muzzle, her disbelieving expression hardened to horror. Her pupils contracted. Then, flexing her knees, she sprang, a clumsy, nonathletic leap, to grip the arm aiming the improbable weapon.

For a long moment that seemed an eternity, the pair remained locked in an outlandish wrestlers’ hold.

The sharp sound rang out like a car backfiring.

One woman slumped to the ground. A heartbeat later, she died in the other’s arms.

That gunshot would echo endlessly in print, on television, in people’s hearts, for these two, together with another woman equally involved, led the sort of lives of which dreams are made. Between them they had vast wealth, beauty, acclaimed talent, triumphant careers, the adoration of famous men. The jealousies and loves, the friendships, the betrayals, the broken promises that formed a twisted path to this lethal moment would initiate hundreds of magazine and newspaper articles. A docudrama miniseries starring Candice Bergen, Ann-Margret, and Tuesday Weld would win an Emmy. There would be four critically acclaimed books written about the shooting, and Norman Mailer’s The Golden Girls would become the runaway best-seller of the year.

In life and in death there was a heady glamour surrounding these three women who had everything—and more.