Djuna Cortez is stunned when she inherits a large estate from the grandfather she never knew,a world-renowned surrealist painter,and become the instant owner of a llavishly decorated apartment in Paris,a struggling winery in Loire,a priceless art collection,and her grandfather's extensive journals,which reveal painful family secrets.
Three women inherit stuff from a Parisian artist and businessman. It is set in France, Spain, Morocco and the Mediterranean. It was written by Adreana Robbins, Harold Robbins' daughter.
i felt like reading this was a waste of my time. she's trying to hard. it was painful
From Booklist
This first novel by the daughter of the late Harold Robbins continues his tradition of chronicling the lives of the rich and famous. The major players here are beautiful, wealthy, oversexed and one-dimensional. When young, naive, innocent, and beautiful Djuna Cortez learns that she has inherited a Paris apartment, a winery in the Loire, and the art collection of her grandfather (the famous painter Joaquim Carlos Cortez), she decides to settle in Paris, where she gets caught up in the glittering lifestyle of the jet set. Because she is so naive and trusting, Djuna soon becomes prey to a group of wily fortune hunters and barely gets out of the mess alive. Robbins includes an oddly disjointed, half^-hearted look at Paris cafelife in the 1930s, as Djuna explores her grandfather's journals, which detail his innumerous affairs and other meticulously recorded peccadillos. Readers may find Adreana's novel tamer than her father's works and not nearly as blatantly tawdry. Long-winded, long-drawn, and just plain long, this debut novel nonetheless will arouse interest.
This first novel by the daughter of the late Harold Robbins continues his tradition of chronicling the lives of the rich and famous. The major players here are beautiful, wealthy, oversexed and one-dimensional. When young, naive, innocent, and beautiful Djuna Cortez learns that she has inherited a Paris apartment, a winery in the Loire, and the art collection of her grandfather (the famous painter Joaquim Carlos Cortez), she decides to settle in Paris, where she gets caught up in the glittering lifestyle of the jet set. Because she is so naive and trusting, Djuna soon becomes prey to a group of wily fortune hunters and barely gets out of the mess alive. Robbins includes an oddly disjointed, half^-hearted look at Paris cafelife in the 1930s, as Djuna explores her grandfather's journals, which detail his innumerous affairs and other meticulously recorded peccadillos. Readers may find Adreana's novel tamer than her father's works and not nearly as blatantly tawdry. Long-winded, long-drawn, and just plain long, this debut novel nonetheless will arouse interest.
The daughter of Harold Robbins debuts with a Paris romance in which Cinderella marries Prince Charming, only to find he's secretly the Beast. Motherless, penniless American Djuna Cortez, only 21 and alone in the City of Light, has just had her charge card cut off by her surly father, Emile, when she receives a letter stating that shes inherited vast wealth from Emile's father, the well-known painter Joaqum Carlos Cortez. (Emile himself is passed over, for reasons revealed only near the close.) Aside from her grandfather's bank accounts, Djuna also inherits his large apartment and studio, his paintings and chateau, publishing rights to his ten journals, and his winery in the Loire Valley. As Djuna reads the journals, the story alternates between her firsthand account of Parisian high society in the mid-1980s and Joaqum's notes about his youth as a budding bohemian artist in Paris during the '30s and '40s: his love affairs, models, and ritzy friends, including towering but luminous egoist/hat-designer Mitya Troubetskoy and, much later, budding novelist Pascal Maron, both of whom have been Joaqum's lovers and are now partial inheritors. Djunas snooty half-brother introduces her to six-foot African model Navarine, who in turns leads her into a romance with Jean-August Briard, a strangely reserved but blindingly handsome ``cosmopolitan hero out of a Fitzgerald novel'' who knows everything about grapes and offers to help save her failing winery. Unfortunately, Djuna discovers only after she marries him that his reserve masks sadism. Within months, she's bruised, battered, and seeking divorce. Then Jean-August really gets mad. Read to find out the rest of the story.
