Read : The Pull of the Stars Read : A Murderous Relation Read : The Vapors A Southern Family the New York Mob and the Rise and Fall of Hot Springs Americas Forgotten Capital of Vice Read : A Woman Is No Man Read : Rhythm of War Read : Better Than Revenge
When seventy-year-old Charlotte Perkins submits a sexy essay to the Become a Jetsetter contest she dreams of reuniting her estranged children: Lee an almost-famous actress; Cord a handsome Manhattan venture capitalist who can't seem to find a bride; and Regan a harried mother who took it all wrong when Charlotte bought her a Weight Watchers gift certificate for her bWhen seventy-year-old Charlotte Perkins submits a sexy essay to the Become a Jetsetter contest she dreams of reuniting her estranged children: Lee an almost-famous actress; Cord a handsome Manhattan venture capitalist who can't seem to find a bride; and Regan a harried mother who took it all wrong when Charlotte bought her a Weight Watchers gift certificate for her birthday. Charlotte yearns for the years when her children were young and she was a single mother who meant everything to them. When she wins the cruise the family packs all their baggage—literal and figurative—and spends ten days traveling from sun-drenched Athens through glorious Rome to tapas-laden Barcelona on an over-the-top cruise ship the Splendido Marveloso. As lovers new and old join the adventure long-buried secrets are revealed and the Perkins family is forced to confront the defining choices in their lives. Can four lost adults find the peace they've been seeking by reconciling their childhood aches and coming back to each other?In the vein of The Nest and The Vacationers Ward has created a delicious and intelligent novel about the courage it takes to reveal our true selves the pleasures and perils of family and how we navigate the seas of adulthood to cruise—we can only hope—toward joy.(less)