Such Devoted Sisters

Scandal and sudden death; love, fierce jealousy and betrayal; films, food and in particular chocolate, provide a vivid, rich background to this dramatic story of such devoted sisters.

Dolly and Eve are sisters - struggling Hollywood starlets at the height of the McCarthy era. One man can take them into the big time.... Dolly, blinded by jealousy, betrays her sister to achieve stardom. Eve's tragic death causes a dramatic scandal in Hollywood and her two daughters flee to New York. Penniless and with changed name, Annie shoulders the burden of providing for her younger sister, Laurel. With jobs ranging from waitressing to seedy modeling, Annie eventually finds a secure niche in a top class chocolate business and life begins to look up... especially when she delivers chocolates one day to Joe Daugherty, a handsome and enterprising young restaurateur.

History repeats itself, however, in dramatic fashion. The shadows from the past tragedy haunt them as the family members trace them and enforce their silence. Then, Laurel, impatient with her sister's overprotective care, falls in love with Joe, seducing him away from Annie. It is an act of betrayal which is to shape all of their lives in the decade to come.

The twin themes of the power of the past's dark secrets and the tensions of family relationships - in particular the devoted sisters - together with the splendid setting of the elegant and flourishing chocolate business, make Such Devoted Sisters a perfect dramatic and emotional novel.

Copyright (c) 1996 Eileen Goudge.