Binding: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9781593154752
ISBN: 1593154755
Label: Vanguard Press
Languages: Array
Manufacturer: Vanguard Press
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 352
Publication Date: 2008-06-02
Publisher: Vanguard Press
Studio: Vanguard Press

From the bestselling author of Woman in Red comes a moving story in which an unlikely twist of fate has the potential to change the lives of three women in ways they never could have imagined.

"Rosie and Abigail are like family," Ina Merriweather used to say. That is, until the day Ina abruptly cast out her housekeeper, Rosie, and her fifteen-year-old daughter Abigail. Abigail felt deeply betrayed, especially by Ina's daughter Lila, who was her closest friend. Only Lila's twin brother Vaughn, with whom Abigail had been exploring the joys and heartaches of first love, showed any compassion.

Now, twenty-five years later, an old score is about to be settled...and an old love rekindled. Abigail is now a self-made woman who has built an empire out of the homemaking skills she learned from her mother. When Lila, who married well and for decades lived the glittering life of a Park Avenue socialite, suffers a tragic reversal of fortune, an opportunity to right an old wrong lands squarely in Abigail's lap. Lila seeks the help of her childhood friend, but learns that the only opening available at the moment is as her housekeeper and Lila has no choice but to accept.

At the same time, Abigail is coping with the fallout from a fire in her Mexico factory, which took the life of an innocent girl, whose mother, Concepción Morales, now seeks the rich señora she holds responsible for her daughter's death. In a collision of fate, Abigail, Lila, and Concepción are thrown together and must unite to save one another...and themselves.

Customer Rating:
Summary: Secrets, Betrayal and Revenge...
Comment: Childhood friends, Abigail and Lila, are torn apart by a betrayal that leaves them each damaged in different ways for years to come.

Abigail, the daughter of the family housekeeper, strives to achieve something with her life, and after many years of struggle, she becomes a household name...a diva of domesticity...a brand name. Her family life appears perfect, just like her domestic goddess kingdom, but underneath, more secrets and betrayals lurk.

Lila, worlds apart from Abigail in the beginning, as the daughter of a rich family, seemingly continues on this path, ending up with her handsome husband, beautiful Park Avenue apartment, and loving son. Then, with one brutal stroke of luck---or karma---it is all taken away, and
she is forced to seek employment just to sustain herself and her son. Which is why she finds herself, after numerous rejections, on the doorstep of her former friend.

When Abigail offers Lila a job as her housekeeper, it would seem like vengeance, or some kind of karmic justice.

Meanwhile, Lila's twin brother Vaughn, a world traveler and Abigail's teenage lover comes home with devastating news of his own.

The scene is set for drama, but everything seemingly spins out of control when a woman from Mexico begins wending her way to New York to avenge her daughter's death. A factory fire took the life of Concepcion's daughter, Milagros, which Concepcion believes is the direct result of Abigail's negligence.

Will the secrets and betrayals of the past finally come home to roost? Will Abigail and Lila ever restore the bond they once shared? What is going on with Abigail's teenage daughter, and will her strange, obsessive preoccupation with Lila's son turn into something even more troubling? And finally, what culminating events will bring all of the characters together or forever tear them asunder?

An intriguing read, Domestic Affairs, a story of domestic drama, truly transcends the "domestic" to become a sweeping emotional tale of lives derailed and family secrets revealed.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: engaging contemporary tale
Comment: In 1982 Greenhaven, Georgia, Abigail and Lila were best friends although the former's mother worked as a housekeeper to the latter's affluent family. Abigail also was attracted to Lila's twin brother Vaughn. However, Lila's mom accuses Abigail's mother of stealing, fired her, and tossed mother and daughter into the street.

In present day New York, Abigail runs a successful catering business and is a TV show guest due to a popular cook book she wrote; while she and her husband Kent raise their child Phoebe. However, lately Abigail has been unhappy as Kent ignores her and Phoebe seems frighteningly withdrawn. In that environs Lila arrives impoverished from a factory fire and despondent from her husband's suicide. She begs for a job for the sake of her son. Abigail hires her frantic former friend as the family housekeeper. However, what has split them for over two decades remains especially with the insult of the job as a reminder of reverse fortunes; but soon current painful issues such as Vaughn reappearing will surface to complicate any chance of reconciliation between the once two best friends.

DOMESTIC AFFAIR is an engaging contemporary tale that focuses on friendship and betrayal. The story line is character driven obviously first by the two lead females, but also enhanced by their extended family members. Although at times the plot veers into soap opera turf, readers will enjoy this fine modern day drama wondering what will happen to each key cast member as the underlying rapport and discord of relationships change.

Harriet Klausner

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Great Goudge!
Comment: Eileen Goudge, as always, doesn't disappoint. This novel is right up there with the rest of her work. I always know when a new novel comes out, I will enjoy it.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Revenge is suppose to be sweet, right?
Comment: Revenge is suppose to be sweet, right? "Domestic Affairs" is the story of two childhood friends who cease their friendship as a result of family conflicts. Abigail was left penniless, while Lila continued her life of luxury. Decades later, tides turned, and it was Lila who was penniless, and Abigail well off from her life of hard work. Lila begs Abigail for assistance; but their re-entrance into each other's lives does not happen without consequences. A gripping tale about the morality of revenge, the complexity of life, and friendship, "Domestic Affairs" is a highly recommended read for anyone looking for a story with these elements done well.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: MY REVIEW OF DOMESTIC AFFAIRS--DON'T MISS THIS ONE!
Comment: My Review of DOMESTIC AFFAIRS by Eileen Goudge
Submitted by Karen Haney, August, 2008

RATING: 5 STARS
For Eileen Goudge to write a novel better than Woman in Red is something I never saw coming until I opened to the first page of this remarkable book. Nevertheless, in Domestic Affairs, Goudge has done just that! She brings us a love story on so many levels that it grabs you in the beginning and never lets go until the last page. First and foremost, this love story is about friends-and how although their friendship definitely is a roller coaster over time, it never loses its effect on the lives of the people it touches, nor the reader. It is also about how only a deep friendship like this can change people's lives forever especially when secrets shared in that relationship remain unspoken for years.

The story starts with the friendship and alliance of Abigail Armstrong with Lila and her brother, Vaughn, Meriwhether. These three grow up from children to teens, sharing what at a certain point is essentially too much to share. These secrets they share will direct the paths their lives take as they are torn apart in their youth, but then brings them back together later as adults. When Abby's mother, the housekeeper for Lila and Vaughn's family is unceremoniously fired and chased from the only home Abby has ever known, horrific feelings and secrets go with Abby and her mother, Rosalie, as they leave the Meriwhether estate.

Fast forward twenty-five years and the proverbial shoe is on the other foot as Lila, once a high member of New York society, is brought down by the results of her husband's illegal actions. When he cowardly commits suicide rather than take his punishment, Lila's life falls apart. She is a pariah to those she once courted and was courted by. She is left without anything and the only work she could take on was if someone wanted a socialite to run a party. With not much call for that "skill", in an ironic twist, Lila is saved when she is hired to be a housekeeper in the now very successful, Martha Stewart-like, media maven, Abigail Armstrong. While this NEW Abby now will only deal decently with her housekeeper, in memory of her now deceased mother, she is quite the opposite in the business world. A sharp tongue and iron fist enables Abigail to run a top-notch business, while trying to still hold on to her husband and family. When Lila becomes her housekeeper, the revenge should be sweet, but is it?

Into this duo, a third important female character, Concepcion Delgado, enters. As a mother who wants to revenge her daughter's tragic death at what she believes is caused by Abby's company and how it runs its "sweatshops" she is on a mission to confront the people responsible. The cost of producing inexpensive while highly desirable linens is too much when Concepcion's daughter pays the price with her life. Concepcion travels to find the driven leader of this company that she feels took her child from her.

As these three very different lives come headed on a collision course and confrontation, Eileen Goudge has not settled to just reward readers with the results of this meeting. Gouge has not forgotten to also expertly stir into this mix tragedies, illness, suicide, teen angst and the only thing needed to complete the end product, a former lover. All that a reader could want is there for them to sink their teeth into. The final morsel leaves the reader satisfied but also sorry to see it end. This is a MUST READ for everyone!

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