Fortune's Hand: A Novel

Prolific author Belva Plain turns her discerning attention once more to the complexity of the human condition in Fortune . High-powered lawyer Robb McDaniel learns too late that dreams are more easily lost than won, and that life sometimes takes on a complexion all of its own, when he pursues and achieves "success," as measured by standards not his own or his family's. Along the way, Robb indelibly touches other lives: Lily, his high-school sweetheart and former fiancée; Ellen, his estranged wife who is in love with another man; and Julie, his daughter who has grown up before Robb realized what was happening. For Belva Plain fans, the sometimes-unlikely dialogue fails to detract from the message of a life gone astray. In truth, Plain's painfully literal plot reminds us all to remain vigilant, to continually monitor the progress and process of our lives, else we wake one day to find it and ourselves unrecognizable. --Alison Trinkle