Amber Parrish has worked her way up from being invisible nobody Lana Crump, to prominent socialite over a number of years. There have been many bumps along the way but now she’s made it. Even her husband Jackson’s current status hasn’t stopped her reigning supreme over the Bishop’s Harbour community on the Long Island Sound. Jackson is coming to the end of a prison sentence for tax evasion, but with a month or so left to serve Amber is fast running out of money. Daphne, the first Mrs Parrish, left Bishop’s Harbour after her divorce from Jackson and swore she would never return. She believed that he would never change. His abuse was psychological, physical and emotional, but she has tried to keep the truth of her marriage secret from her girls until they’re older. When she sees daughter Tallulah struggling and desperate to see her father, Daphne relents and agrees to spend the summer in Bishop’s Harbour. For as long as Jackson agrees to her boundaries and rules. Jackson proclaims he is a changed man and agrees to family therapy, but Daphne is on her guard, unsure whether a man like him can ever change. Daisy Anne lives in Texas with husband Mason and their children and enjoys a very close relationship with her in-laws, especially her mother-in-law Birdie. Even so, Daisy Anne feels the loss of her father very deeply, especially since she suspects foul play. After her mother’s death he jumped into an ill-advised relationship with a younger woman and was killed while they were elk hunting. The death was ruled an accident, because his wife claimed she’d mistaken movement up ahead for an elk, but Daisy Anne knows it was murder. When this woman walks into an exhibition for Daisy Anne’s White Orchid jewellery company in New York, she is furious and has her thrown out. The incident hardens her resolve to bring this woman to justice. Amber, Daphne and Daisy Anne’s lives become interlinked, in a dangerous game with complicated motives of revenge, justice and greed.
This is one of those books where it’s hard to like any of the characters, instead it’s driven by it’s complicated and thrilling plot of deceit and betrayal. I found myself mentally berating some characters and hating others with a passion, but still I felt compelled to keep reading. I’ll admit this was mainly because I wanted to see some people get their comeuppance. I did a lot of internal screaming if I thought one of the women was doing something stupid. My husband will tell you it wasn’t all silent screaming, because I honestly wanted to give others a swift slap. I had sympathy for Daphne, especially when learning the extent of the abuse she suffered while married. I desperately wanted to intervene and tell her not to return to Bishop’s Harbour ever. I could understand her concern about her daughters, but when the abuse was so extensive and he showed signs of starting to control their children it has to be non-negotiable. I would have had to draw a line. Instead of allowing him access to the family, she needed to have a very hard, but honest conversation with her eldest daughter. Once they knew the truth, she needed to work on blocking his access and maybe relocating. Daphne came across as wary one moment then far too trusting the next. When she made the decision to stay close to Jackson for the summer and he stepped over her first boundary, I was screaming at her to get back on a plane. I probably had a huge reaction to this storyline because I have been through psychological abuse and I had to set hard boundaries after leaving. It was great to see the author use this subject in one of her novels and portraying it so accurately, because she shows how pervasive and relentless coercive control is. She covers all the red flags too, showing the initial love bombing – something that’s really off the scale with a man as wealthy as Jackson Parrish. Then she shows him slowly ramping up the control, starting with what Daphne wears and weighs. It isn’t clear if he continues this pattern with current wife Amber, but she’s quite the operator herself having used every trick in the book to end up in such a wealthy position as the second Mrs Parrish.
As Jackson comes out of prison, their relationship deteriorates over Amber’s solution to their short term cash flow problems. Seemingly having no jealousy or feelings for her husband, Amber agrees to help with his plan to get Daphne and the girls back. Only if she gets the right terms of divorce of course – the guarantee of this standard of living for life. She aims to get her own back on someone from the past, someone who got in the way of her social climbing and humiliated her. She’s determined to buy into their business, setting up a dummy company to buy the controlling share and ruin it from the inside. She is utterly ruthless and there’s a definite pleasure in knowing that she got one over on Jackson but it’s hard to empathise with her, especially when she knows Jackson plans for Daphne. Meanwhile, Daisy Anne continues to be suspicious of the woman who married her father. His sudden death left Daisy Anne without either parent and although she’s since had a family of her own, she’s missed out on that grounding and support we get from our parents. She starts looking into his death in more detail, searching out CCTV and witnesses to the shooting ‘accident’. She also puts out feelers to find out where his widow came from, someone with her father’s interests of fly fishing and shooting would probably have lived on a large estate or been known in their social circle. She can feel in her bones there was a scam involved and she’s not going to let it go. You’re not quite sure how these women overlap at first, as the author ekes out the revelations and takes us on a rollercoaster of twists and turns. Often books have twists just for the sake of it but this was a belter and totally unexpected. I devoured the last few chapters, desperate to get the ending I wanted; finally I could find out how these women link together and watch certain characters get their just desserts. This is the perfect summer read with a great combination of serious issues, the beautiful Long Island beach backdrop and those delicious glimpses into the lives (and wardrobes) of the wealthy women who live there. Definitely one for your suitcase if you’re popping off for some late summer sun.
Meet the Author
Liv Constantine is the pen name of sisters Lynne Constantine and Valerie Constantine. Lynne and Valerie are New York Times and international bestselling authors with over two million copies sold worldwide. Their books have been translated into 29 languages, are available in 34 countries, and are in development for both television and film. Their novels have been praised by The Washington Post, USA Today, The Sunday Times, People Magazine, and Good Morning America, among many others. Their debut novel, THE LAST MRS. PARRISH, is a Reese Witherspoon Book Club selection.
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