The Fashion Orphans

by

Randy Susan Meyers & M.J. Rose

Two estranged sisters find that forgiveness never goes out of style when they inherit their mother’s vintage jackets, purses… and pearls of wisdom

Estranged half-sisters Gabrielle Winslow and Lulu Quattro have only two things in common: mounds of debt and coils of unresolved enmity toward Bette Bradford, their controlling and imperious recently deceased mother.

Gabrielle, the firstborn, was raised in relative luxury on Manhattan’s rarefied Upper East Side. Now, at fifty-five, her life as a Broadway costume designer married to a heralded Broadway producer has exploded in divorce.

Lulu, who spent half her childhood under the tutelage of her working-class Brooklyn grandparents, is a grieving widow at forty-eight. With her two sons grown, her life feels reduced to her work at the Ditmas Park bakery owned by her late husband’s family.

The two sisters arrive for the reading of their mother’s will, expecting to divide a sizable inheritance, pay off their debts, and then again turn their backs on each other.

But to their shock, what they have been left is their mother’s secret walk-in closet jammed with high-end current and vintage designer clothes and accessories— most from Chanel.

Contemplating the scale of their mother’s self-indulgence, the sisters can’t help but wonder if Lauren Weisberger had it wrong: because it seems, in fact, that the devil wore Chanel. But as they being to explore their mother’s collection, meet and fall in love with her group of warm, wonderful friends, and magically find inspiring messages tucked away in her treasures — it seems as though their mother is advising Lulu and Gabrielle from the beyond — helping them rediscover themselves and restore their relationship with each other.

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Biography:

M.J. RoseNew York Times Bestseller, M.J. Rose grew up in New York City mostly in the labyrinthine galleries of the Metropolitan Museum, the dark tunnels and lush gardens of Central Park and reading her mother’s favorite books before she was allowed. She believes mystery and magic are all around us but we are too often too busy to notice… books that exaggerate mystery and magic draw attention to it and remind us to look for it and revel in it.

Please visit her blog, Museum of Mysteries.

Her photo was taken by Judith Pushett utilizing an old relic: a turn-of-the-century 11 x 14 inch wood camera.

Rose lives in CT with her husband the musician and composer, Doug Scofield.

Her most recent novel THE LIBRARY OF LIGHT AND SHADOW (Atria/S&S) was chosen as an Indie Next Pick.

Rose’s work has appeared in many magazines including Oprah Magazine and she has been featured in the New York Times, Newsweek, WSJ, Time, USA Today and on the Today Show, and NPR radio. Rose graduated from Syracuse University, spent the ’80s in advertising, has a commercial in the Museum of Modern Art in NYC and since 2005 has run the first marketing company for authors – Authorbuzz.com

The television series PAST LIFE, was based on Rose’s novels in the Reincarnationist series. She is one of the founding board members of International Thriller Writers.

Visit M.J.’s website and follow her on:

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Randy Susan Meyers’ novels are informed by over twenty years working with criminal offenders and with families impacted by emotional and physical violence. Her fifth novel, Waisted, tackles the personal and political: body image. CNN’s review called it, “A
provocative and compelling novel that’s technically fiction but discusses a topic most can relate to: anxiety over our waistlines. We join a group of seven women enrolled in an extreme weight loss documentary, who get more than they bargained for once they meet up with the
producers. From mothers who are hyper focused on their weight to a woman who worries her marriage will be over if she doesn’t drop some pounds, they all get a surprise when the filming transforms from light-hearted entertainment to “The Truman Show.”

Parade Magazine, Pop Sugar, BookBub, Women.com, Get Literary, and Brit.Com chose Waisted as a Top 2019 Summer Read. Library Journal wrote “Meyers delivers a timely examination of body image, family, friendship, and what it means to be a woman in modern society. It will appeal to anyone who has ever dreaded stepping on a scale; even those who haven’t will learn from it. Culturally inclusive and societally on point, this is a must-read.”

Three of Meyer’s novels were chosen as a “Must Read Book” by the Massachusetts Council of the Book, an affiliate of the Library of Congress. They wrote, “The clear and distinctive voice of Randy Susan Meyers will have you enraptured and wanting more.”

Target chose Meyer’s first novel, The Murderer’s Daughters, as their nationwide book club pick. Accidents of Marriage was chosen as a People Magazine pick. Her novels have won recognition as the French “Reader’s Choice” award, the CJP Boston’s ‘One City, One Book’ choice, and been chosen by over 150 book clubs nationwide and internationally. Over twenty foreign publishers have translated and released Meyers’ books.

Meyers is a Brooklyn-Boston mix who believes happiness requires family, friends, books, and an occasional NY bagel. She lives in Boston with her husband, where she teaches writing seminars at Boston’s Grub Street Writers’ Center. She also teaches at Northampton’s Writer in Progress.

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