A beautiful man. A brilliant woman. And a life together that is almost paradise.
Susan Isaacs, bestselling author of Compromising Positions and Close Relations, joins America’s first-rank novelists with this rich and complex story of Jane and Nicholas Cobleigh, of the generations that sired them, and of the wide cast of family and friends with whom their lives are intertwined. Nicholas is the handsome, elusive, awesomely aristocratic scion of one of the East Coast’s oldest families. Jane – supremely intelligent, awkward, and deliciously funny – is the product of a disastrous union between a down-on-her-luck (but eternally optimistic) burleque queen and the dreary Cincinnati bank clerk she dupes into marriage.
But Almost Paradise is more than just the recounting of two lives. All of Susan Isaacs' characters are alive – colorful, human and beautifully textured: James, Nicholas' father, an embittered, hard-drinking, womanizing former OSS spy stuck in a Wall Street law firm; Dorothy, Jane’s vicious, avaricious stepmother; Murray, their savvy, good-hearted agent; their daughters, the chilly Victoria, the vulnerable Elizabeth.
Almost Paradise is the Colbleighs' story, together and apart, from the cold-water flat in Hell’s Kitchen to the rolling, verdant Connecticut farm to the Fifth Avenue duplex, from their vastly different backgrounds to their life together that transcends what either alone could achieve. It is a tale of great wealth and great celebrity in the midst of personal tragedy, of the ties that bind us all together, and the missed opportunities that tear us apart.
Susan Isaacs has written a profoundly moving drama with wit, warmth, irony, and compassion – a deep and gripping saga that penetrates to the heart of our modern culture.
>> Susan’s inspiration for Almost Paradise.
One of those immensely readable stories that keeps the pages turning- never mind eating, sleeping or other unnecessary rudiments of daily routine…. Told with warmth, humor and a sure sense of drama, Shining Through is a thoroughly engaging book.”— St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Isaacs the master storyteller shifts into high gear and virtually hurls us out of our seats, mingling scenes of breathtaking suspense and vivid evocations of wartime…. Reckless, wisecracking Linda Voss may just be one of our most memorable fictional citizens.”— Newsday
Clever, witty and thoroughly charming.”— The Detroit Free Press
I can’t think when I liked a ficitonal character as much as I liked Linda Voss in Shining Through…. In an era of neurotic characters and distasteful situations, this is a feel-good novel. Susan Isaacs has created people who are comprehensible and likable…. We do have a well-written and entertaining story about a nice woman. She’ll come shining through for you.”— Atlanta Journal and Constitution
Extravagant…. As witty as she ever was, but her imagination has gotten wilder, and the story she tells is bigger.”— Cosmopolitan
A down-to-earth Cinderella story that is a totally captivating and unexpected blend of action, adventure, romantic fiction and spy thriller…. Keeps readers hooked from the first page to the last…. The wonderfully wrought characterization of Linda Voss shines throughout this novel. Isaacs has hit her stride.”— Chicago Sun-Times News
Laced with heartbreak, drama and thrills… Marvelously readable…_ Shining Through_ is a dandy book, with a smile, a tug at the heartstrings and an insight on every page. But this reader is left with a longing? Where is Linda Voss… when we need her most?”— The Philadelphia Inquirer
Susan Isaacs can sure kick-start a novel…. A witty, literate soap opera with some nifty derring-do… A feisty heroine, a reluctant lover, the girl you love to hate and an intriguing older man playing out their personal dramas as the world goes to war.”— New York Daily News
Sizzling… Shining Through explodes more than one myth about being as American as apple pie.”— Los Angeles Times