From Joseph Amiel, best-selling author of A Question of Proof, Deeds, and Star Time, comes a novel of consummate dramatic sweep and emotional force, BIRTHRIGHT is the story of a brilliant woman's fight to gain success and her family's legendary bank while loving two men who harbor the secrets that will free her.
Reared in the splendid excess of her family's London home and country estate; blessed with beauty and a precocious intelligence that has already captured the eye of her empire-building grandfather, Deborah de Kronenegold has everything, or so it seems. But her childhood equilibrium is shattered when she discovers that she is adopted, and when she becomes the object of her father Leslie's malevolence. Upon the deaths of her her grandfather Samuel and her lovely and ill-fated mother Madeleine--and the mysterious disappearance of the will naming Deborah her grandfather's principal heir--Leslie sets in motion a series of shocking and irrevocable events. Deborah is turned out, and with nothing but her resolve to claim her birthright, she moves to New York, and starts to build a financial empire to rival her father's--and to bring him down.
BIRTHRIGHT is also a constellation of passionate love stories: there is Bash, Deborah's first love, whose heritage forbids him what he most desires; and David, who offers Deborah wealth and security and adoration--but at a terrible price. Finally, there is the story of another love affair--set in distant war-torn Italy, which unlocks the secret of Deborah's birthright.
As played out against the glamorous world of international finance, and set in the boardrooms of London, Paris, and New York, in sumptuous townhouses, chateaus, and penthouses, and in Italy and in in modern Israel, BIRTHRIGHT cuts a grand and satisfying swath. It is a triumph of the unexpected that will hold the reader captivated right up to its surprising conclusion.
"Deborah de Kronengold, heroine of Amiel's operatic novel of love, avarice and international high finance, is bound to thrill readers of popular fiction....Amiel has produced a novel on a grand scale." ~Publisher's Weekly
"An extravagant contemporary novel...a cliffhanger."
~ The Cincinnati Enquirer
"Exciting and compelling entertainment...nearly impossible to put down."
~ The Milwaukee Journal
"The writing is smooth and the fast-paced action builds skillfully to its dramatic denouement. An absorbing page-turner sure to be in demand."
~ Library Journal
"A multi-faceted novel, broad in scope, both extensive and intensive, filled with acute characterizations, BIRTHRIGHT...is a most impressive piece of writing."
~ Richmond Times Dispatch
Dear Reader,
It was my wife, her eReader firmly in hand, who first urged me to consider reissuing my novels, so as to reach a new audience who is reading its books in digital formats.
I had not looked inside the pages of any of my books since they were published; they sat on my office shelf as more or less part of the décor. I pulled down a copy of A Question of Proof. Quickly, recollection returned, and I remembered why the book had meant so much to me. A Question of Proof was my fifth novel, and both its writing and the end result had given me great joy. It was the book that had allowed me to marry fully my training as a lawyer with my passion to tell a compelling story. Also, the book's protagonist, Dan Lazar, contains more of me than any of my other characters.
Going back and reading the book turned out to be a gratifying experience. I found the story and the dark mystery at its heart gripping me. Apart from references to events in the book's earlier time frame, the story felt immediate, as if it was happening now, with many of the same problems facing people today that prevailed then. After much contemplation, I decided that moving the novel into the present and adding new material would provide the same immediacy experienced by my original readers. The result is the book you are about to read, which I believe is as exciting and compelling as when it was first published. I hope it gives you the pleasure that has always been my reason for writing.
Joseph Amiel
New York, NY
Joseph Amiel is a novelist and screenwriter, as well as a lawyer. His novels include: HAWKS, BIRTHRIGHT, DEEDS, STAR TIME, and A QUESTION OF PROOF, which have been translated into over a dozen languages. His screenplay GAMES has recently been honored at several film festivals, as has his comedy series for the web AIN'T THAT LIFE.
He was graduated from Amherst College, where he studied English and creative writing, and from Yale Law School. He is married and has two children.
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