From Kirkus Reviews
A third hardcover (Seasons of Her Life, 1994, etc.) and the first of a trilogy from Michaels, no stranger to the saga series (the bestselling paperbacks Texas Rich, Texas Heat, etc.). Here, the author takes on Vegas with her hallmark blend of sweeping melodrama and immorality galore. When, in 1922, Sallie Coleman, the proverbial hooker with a heart of gold, inherits a multimillion-dollar fortune from a recently deceased client, Las Vegas is in for a major shake-up. After Sallie hires a tutor, one Philip Thornton, from Boston, to ``give her an education,'' she single-handedly transforms the dusty mining town into an entertainment mecca, building bingo palaces, becoming a lounge singer herself, even institutionalizing prostitution; before long, she is known as Mrs. Nevada. Along the way, Philip becomes her husband but never the love of her life-- that role is reserved for her attorney, Devin Rollins, although she and Philip never divorce and he fathers her two sons, Ash and Simon--the first a conceited daddy's boy, the latter a humble genius with his mother's spunk and gumption. After WW II (both boys enlist secretly), Simon heads for New York, to make his fortune on Wall Street, while Ash stays at home in Vegas and marries Fanny Logan, a Pennsylvania girl who, in looks and personality, is a carbon copy of Sallie. The second and third generations of Thorntons further transform Vegas: Ash pours money into the creation of a mega-casino, Simon strives to maintain his mother's more cautious vision. Through it all, Sallie remains a matriarch to be reckoned with, but her twin grandsons, Sage and Birch, appear to be the future of Vegas . . . for better or worse. Two more installments to go, with tie-ins to the Texas books. It's hard to imagine what more can befall this family, but if history doesn't lie, Michaels won't disappoint her fans, and she'll sell this trio like hotcakes, too. (Author tour) -- Copyright ©1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
From the Back Cover
With a heart full of dreams, Sallie Coleman leaves Texas and heads west determined to get as far from the squalor of her dirt poor beginnings. With its shifting sands, smoky saloons and bingo palaces, Las Vegas seems like a paradise. A paradise where an extraordinary twist of fate makes Sallie the most powerful businesswoman in Nevada.
About the Author
FERN MICHAELS is the USA Today and New York Times bestselling author of the Sisterhood series, Mr. and Miss Anonymous, Up Close and Personal, and dozens of other novels and novellas. There are over seventy million copies of her books in print. Fern Michaels has built and funded several large day-care centers in her hometown, and is apassionate animal lover who has outfitted police dogs across the country with special bulletproof vests. She shares her home in South Carolina with her four dogs and a resident ghost named Mary Margaret.
