Veronica and Simon Cutler and their dazzling adult daughters, Elodie and Aubrey, strike an enviable pose, the ultimate Palm Beach family. In a town where social aspirations, wealth and charm prevail – they are transcendent. While the sisters are polar opposites, they are fiercely loyal to one another.
And then one stupefying secret, meant to be buried forever, is unearthed and no one in the Cutler clan is able to turn back. As the family is shaken to their core, Aubrey and Elodie must realize their places in the world and the lives they want to lead.
In the midst of the unforgiving opulence of Palm Beach, A Palm Beach Scandal is a story for our times. A captivating tale of discovery, sisterhood and love for others where you least expect it.
BUY NOW:
Amazon.com | bn.com | Books-a-Millian | IndieBound.org | Bookshop.org |Powell’s | Target
PRAISE FOR SUSANNAH MARREN
“Deftly written with a narrative style of entertaining storytelling that pays attention to background detail and the drafting of memorable characters, A Palm Beach Scandal by novelist Susannah Marren will be an enduringly popular addition to community library Contemporary General Fiction collections.” — Midwest Book Reviews
“A great novel which explores some great themes: family, loyalty, what we will do for each other and what is right to ask of each other.” — Girly Book Club Review
“For readers who appreciate modern and sensitively written stories about family, especially sisters.” — Library Journal
“Marren is a masterful interpreter of hidden feelings and the ramifications of keeping secrets.” — BookTrib
“The mystery and intrigue will keep readers holding on until the shocking ending they won’t see coming.” — Publishers Weekly on A Palm Beach Wife
“[A] fast-paced first novel.” —The New York Post on Between the Tides
“Engaging characters and vivid settings indicate Marren’s promise.”—Booklist on Between the Tides
“A page-turning, commanding novel.”—Holly Peterson, New York Times bestselling author of The Manny and The Idea of Him
“The novel is moody and despairing, the writing poetic and abstract, the women cleareyed yet complacent…With characters as unreliable as these, everything is left in question.” —Kirkus Review on Between the Tides
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1. A Palm Beach Scandal is about sisters, motherhood, baby craving and a deep family secret. What part of the story do you relate to the most?
2. Palm Beach is almost a character in this novel. How much do you feel this actual place affects the story?
3. Aubrey and Elodie are devoted sisters. What about the ‘deal’ they make —— were you uneasy, as the reader, once it was put into play?
4. Did you relate to one sister more than the other and why?
5. One of the topics in this story is what playing favorites does to a family? How did you interpret Veronica’s loyalty to her daughters, to herself?
6. This is a very dramatic story, an emotional story. Elodie and Aubrey have a very different take on the discovery of the family secret. What is your view of their approaches?
7. Happiness versus the illusion of happiness is a theme in the novel—what are we ‘told’ by the culture at large to desire as women versus what we individually long for. Let’s discuss how both sisters ‘wake up’ to their inner yearnings.
8. This is a multi – generational story about a mother and her adult daughters. What aspects of their interactions are most meaningful to you as the reader?
9. How we love is another theme in A Palm Beach Scandal. How does this fall into place for Elodie, Aubrey and Veronica?
10. The surprise ending. Susannah Marren is known for this. Could you have predicted what happened and what was your reaction?