A Cinderella story in search of a happy ending, this is a family drama where jealousy is stronger than love; duplicity reigns supreme; and seething hatred manipulates the truth.

As a young girl, Valerie Cardell wanted only one thing: to escape the small town and the selfish family who tyrannized her because she was different. She had ambition; she liked to read; she was a loner. And escape she does, rising to heights she never dreamed possible, becoming the wife of a brilliant tycoon and then emerging from her cocoon to become a dazzling success on her own.

But always ready to spoil her every chance at happiness is a source of terrifying envy and unquenchable rage that will not be satisfied until Valerie–her sister–is destroyed.

Family: it can kill you!

Like the novels of Barbara Taylor Bradford, Judith Michaels, and Belva Plain, this is a family drama that spans decades, a Cinderella story about a young woman who is both daughter and sister, but more, she is the object of seething envy and unstoppable duplicity until she makes her own happy ending.

“Would it make you feel better if I called Alice, asked her to explain herself?”

“What good would it do? She’d come up with another lie that would fool you just like all the other times.”

“They don’t fool me, David,” Valerie said, her eyes hard with defiance.“She’s my family. Do you understand that. Family. And they must be forgiven—even when they don’t deserve to be.”Valerie Cardell