Penny Vincenzi, master of the contemporary blockbuster, returns with a moving, engaging portrait of people coping with a notorious financial disaster and its unpredictable emotional repercussions. Set during the boom-and-bust years of the 1980s, An Absolute Scandal follows the lives of a group of people drawn together by their mutual monetary woes when the great financial institution Lloyd's undergoes a devastating downturn. For Nigel Cowper, this means the destruction of his family business; his wife, Lucinda, is willing to do everything she can to help him—except give up her irresistible lover. The powerful, charismatic banker Simon Beaumont and his wife, a highly successful advertising executive, lose everything they worked so hard to acquire; but the ultimate tragedy is something that neither one could have anticipated. The well-to-do are not the only ones suffering: a self-sufficient widow is suddenly deep in debt; a single mother struggles to maintain a comfortable home for her children; and a schoolmaster and his frustrated wife find that financial problems deepen the cracks in their troubled marriage. As their lives begin a downward spiral, these characters intersect in ways they never saw coming. Written in what has become her signature style of both wit and candor, Penny Vincenzi draws back the curtain and offers an inside view of the greed and social power plays that occur behind the closed doors of upper-crust society . . . where money isn’t everything. Sometimes, it’s the only thing.
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"I'm a big fan of Vincenzi and this one wasn't bad! I was skeptical about reading a novel/drama about the financial markets but the characters were likeable and even though it was 400+ pages, I breezed through it. Would definitely recommend it, as well as her others. "
— Melissa (4 out of 5 stars)
" Lots of characters so I'm glad for the cast list at the start of the book but really moves along well. "
— Reba, 2/19/2014" Too long and too much. "
— Bill, 2/13/2014" I love Penny Vincenzi. Excelloent escape reading. She makes you feel right at home in Britain. "
— Jeanne, 2/11/2014" Great summer read! We have spent a fair amount of time in England, and have heard about the Lloyd's of London travesty--this helps and I will google to learn more. "
— Ellie, 2/11/2014" Extremely long .. yet worth every paper cut , it taught me patience and the value of the company of books , shared a crazy year with this book in my bag all the time , i practically lived 2 lives , the real world & penny's world "
— Omnia, 2/5/2014" My very favorite from all the Penny Vincenzi books! "
— Adriana, 1/31/2014" I've always enjoyed her books-very easy reading ! And they're usually tremendous value for money as they're HUGE books !! "
— Lynda, 1/26/2014" Okay, but not as good as her other books "
— Bess, 1/25/2014" Why oh why did I insist on finishing this book? Nothing much happens -- certainly nothing unexpected -- and every time I closed the book, I was surprised at how many pages I had left to slog through. Vincenzi's book has been publicized as a "summer" book, and put with "chick lit," but light beach reading it is not. Well, unless financial disaster, people with way more money than you, and working mother diatribes are your idea of beach reading. "
— Stephanie, 1/20/2014" This book was ok...nothing spectacular, and even a bit cumbersome at times. Wouldn't recommend it. "
— Jenny, 1/15/2014" Interesting could be the word. Definitely compelling, otherwise I wouldn't have read such a big book in such short time, though the subject is not compelling for me (finance and so forth). "
— Flavia, 1/14/2014Penny Vincenzi is the international bestselling author of more than a dozen novels, including Sheer Abandon, An Absolute Scandal, The Best of Times, and the highly successful Lytton family trilogy. Before becoming a full-time novelist, she worked as a journalist for Vogue, Tattler, and Cosmopolitan, among other publications. She was also the first fashion editor at Nova, a seminal woman’s magazine of the 1960s, known as Britain’s “style bible.” Penny has four daughters and divides her time between London and South Wales.
Rosalyn Landor is an English-born television, theater, and multiple-award-winning audiobook narrator. Her television credits include Love in a Cold Climate, Rumpole of the Bailey, Sherlock Holmes, and Star Trek: The Next Generation. She has won numerous Audie awards and AudioFile magazine Earphones awards.