Product Description

Before Sex and the City...before The Starter Wife...there was The First Wives Club
The sharp-witted and sexy New York Times bestseller!

Elise, Brenda, and Annie have one thing in common: they were all first wives. Make that two things in common -- they were the secret to success for each of their spouses, faithfully supporting them as they rose to the top. Okay, three things: they were each abandoned for younger, blonder, sleeker women, "trophy wives" for their exes to sport about town.

It may not be on the menu at New York's finer restaurants, but revenge is a dish best served cold -- and while lunching at Le Cirque, the ladies decide the time for self-pity is over: now it's time to get even. How they conspire to give each man his due -- in full view of New York society -- makes The First Wives Club the "deliciously wicked" (San Francisco Chronicle) indulgence that, like vintage champagne, goes straight to your head...and captures your heart along the way!

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #498018 in Books
• Published on: 2008-04-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 576 pages

From Publishers Weekly
This empowering romp will delight and invigorate nearly any woman who's ever stewed over a bad breakup. In late-'80s Manhattan, three well-to-do, middle-aged divorcees are brought together by the suicide of a friend whose spouse, a bigoted Wall Street shark, abandoned her and later wed his ambitious protegee. Annie, a gentle, generous novelist, was dumped by her ad-exec husband for the woman who was their marriage counselor; Elise is a hard-drinking actress whose ex now dates a young artist/heiress; and Brenda is a compulsive overeater who was left by a crass salesman she had helped succeed in the retail biz. Calling themselves the First Wives Club, the three attend society functions together and seek methods of winning not only revenge but the nobler reward of justice for themselves and, posthumously, for their friend. As they stylishly, systematically and nonviolently foil the schemes of their callous former partners, they conquer their own weaknesses and find appreciative friends and lovers who complement rather than rule them. Goldsmith's glitzy, addictive and credible first novel is certain to raise smiles--not to mention a few hackles. Major ad/promo; Literary Guild featured alternate; author tour; movie rights to Paramount.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
Annie, Elise, and Brenda are all good wives who have helped their husbands achieve success. Now that their men are at the pinnacle, they find themselves dumped for younger, sleeker "trophy wives." So they band together to form the "First Wives Club" for the purpose of seeing justice done. There are obvious problems with this first novel. For one thing, the husbands are the kind of guys you love to hate and the younger women are all immature and selfish. The first wives may have their problems (drinking, overeating, and so on) but they are warm, likable characters, unlike their rotten spouses. Despite all this, it's still easy to cheer when the men reap their just rewards, and the first wives find love, happiness, and success. Money, sex, drugs, and revenge make for a heady mixture sure to be popular in any general fiction collection. Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 11/1/91; Literary Guild alternate; movie rights to Paramount.
- Marilyn Jordan, Keiser Coll . Lib., Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews
``There ought to be some kind of retribution, some way to even the score....Let's make sure they pay a price.'' These are the words of a veritable Park Avenue Medea in Goldsmith's sharp, vitriolic, funny, and exceedingly commercial debut novel--all about what happens when three abandoned society wives get mad. The wives are a little slow to cut loose because, as one of them points out, ``We are a generation of masochists.'' Besides, their divorces have laid them low. Indeed, good girl Annie Paradise still thinks she loves her soon-to-be ex, advertising-whiz Aaron, who gambled away their Down's syndrome daughter's trust fund in a bum stock deal and shacks up with--of all people--Annie's old sex- therapist. Meanwhile, her Greenwich Village pal, Elise Atchison, a faded but still beautiful movie star and fantastically wealthy heiress, puts up with the promiscuity of her ``empty suit,'' Bill, for years until--to add insult to injury--he decides to walk with an anorexically thin, cocaine-snorting performance artist. And Brenda, the wise-cracking former wife of crass, appliance-peddling millionaire Morty the Madman, takes solace in cookies and pies. But then the girls get together for lunch at Le Cirque and determine to see to it that there's justice for first wives. Their goals? ``Morty broke...Bill castrated, and Aaron abandoned''--most of which they accomplish with the help of Elise's dough, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and a US senator. Along the way, they find themselves new beaux, laughs, tears, and vastly improved lives. Poor Medea never had it so good, nor do most real, down-to- earth first wives. But this is fantasy, with warm, cuddly female characters and larger-than-life, utterly villainous men. Moreover, the novel mainlines into a vein of pure bile--which can't help but produce heady effects on those millions of women who know exactly what Goldsmith's talking about. (Film rights sold to Paramount.) -- Copyright ©1991, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Customer Reviews

Hilarious & Witty!!!!
I loved "The First Wives Club" despite it being not my usual choice of reading. The characters were well developed & it was so much fun to read. You really root for the characters & it is an empowering novel. This novel was so funny & witty-----it is delicious. This is one of those novels oyu can breeze right thorugh, and have so much fun with it.The plot is so original & well done. I would definitely recommend this to anyone, if you usually read deep, very emotional novels---here is your break from that, & if you read easy, fun novels, then here's another one that you'll love.

There is a strong woman behind every successful man...
...or so the saying goes. But there is also a woman behind every man's downfall...another saying goes.

This novel is a satire on society's double standard norms. But instead of sounding feminist, bitter & pathetic, our heroines are funny & witty despite their intense desire to seek revenge...nay justice. The book dealt on how Elise, Brenda & Annie formed the First Wives Club, how they connived to mete out punishments to erring husbands & how they discovered their own identities & happiness along the way.

Despite having a more serious tone compared with its movie version, Goldsmith's book is funnier & revenge tastes sweeter. Oh, I can't help but gloat over the ex-husbands' downfall.

What a raunchy revenge!
This is a book guaranteed to cheer up any woman who has gone through a bitter divorce at one time or another in her lifetime! It's fun, raunchy, sexy and glamourous ~~ a perfect book to read on a hot summer day!!

Elise, Brenda and Annie are wives that have been dumped by their greedy husbands for younger and blonder models. When a mutual friend committed suicide in her devastation over her divorce by a greedy Wall Street mogul, the three women decided that enough was enough! And while plotting the perfect revenge for their ex-husbands, they also discover themselves and love along the way!

This is a comic read ~~ perfect to take to the poolside ~~ and it's perfect escapism from reality! I highly recommend this Goldsmith novel ~~ it's one of her finest and funniest!!...