a lifestyle blog for book lovers
Menu
The View from Penthouse B
The New York Times Book Review called this "More delicious than my cup of steaming cocoa…tender, funny…The View from Penthouse B sparkles with wit." I recommended this fast and fun read to Mary Laura Philpott on Episode 195 of What Should I Read Next ("Wanted: book enthusiast at large"). Two adult sisters have grown apart, but when they each suffer their own personal and economic tragedies, necessity brings them together again, and they're soon cobbling together a new found family in a Greenwich Village penthouse.
About the Book
“It’s all wonderful fun. Lipman sketches her characters’ foibles with amused affection and moves the plot forward with practiced ease.” – Washington Post
Unexpectedly widowed Gwen-Laura Schmidt is still mourning her husband, Edwin, when her older sister Margot invites her to join forces as roommates in Margot’s luxurious Greenwich Village apartment. For Margot, divorced amid scandal (hint: her husband was a fertility doctor) and then made Ponzi-poor, it’s a chance to shake Gwen out of her grief and help make ends meet. To further this effort she enlists a third boarder, the handsome, cupcake-baking Anthony.
As the three swap moneymaking schemes and timid Gwen ventures back out into the dating world, the arrival of Margot’s paroled ex in the efficiency apartment downstairs creates not just complications but the chance for all sorts of unexpected forgiveness. A sister story about love, loneliness, and new life in middle age from one of our finest comic writers.
“The View from Penthouse B mixes sisters, online dating, and Bernie Madoff’s victims into a witty confection.” – Parade
“Lipman’s acuity as a social observer makes her voice seem to belong to a wise and funny friend.” – Boston Globe
“A sly comedy of modern manners.” – Miami Herald
Other books in "Quick Lit August 2019"
Look Inside
