Better Homes and Husbands

A posh New York apartment building on Park Avenue is home to the rich and Sidney Sapphire, the blond anchorwoman of ABC News; Angela Somoza, the gorgeous Nicaraguan jet-setter; Bob Horowitz, the former chairman of the United Jewish Appeals; and the usual collection of banking and industrial CEOs, Wall Street magnates, and white-haired philanthropists. Vinnie Ferretti, the Brooklyn-born doorman, joins the ranks when he becomes a major fashion designer. The co-op board, rich as clotted cream, sips gin in the afternoons and devises ways to keep out anyone deemed “inappropriate.” Stifled resentments come to a head when some suspect the board of more discrimination toward prospective buyers than might be legal. Better Homes and Husbands is a stylish, richly woven novel about class feuds during the tumultuous period of social change between 1970 and 2000.