The Rich Are Different

The New York Times bestselling novel about a powerful Wall Street family in the 1920s and the illicit affair that threatens their empire.
During the Roaring Twenties, Paul Van Zale is the undisputed king of the financial industry, an influential man of great wealth, unparalleled power, enormous ego, and insatiable appetites. He’s also exactly what Dinah Slade is looking for: a millionaire susceptible to seduction who can rescue her endangered ancestral estate and make her dream of creating her own business empire come true.

All it takes is one look at the intoxicating young Englishwoman—“delivered” in secret to his London office—and all thoughts of his wife and other mistresses are instantly banished from Van Zale’s mind. But their ensuing love affair has repercussions that will shake the foundations of the banking tycoon’s Wall Street firm, especially when his dynamic, impulsive right-hand man also falls victim to Dinah’s vibrant sensuality.

Perhaps graver still is her effect on Van Zale’s family, among whom greed, rage, and jealousy are prime motivating factors. And as the boom of the twenties gives way to the despair of the Great Depression, everything threatens to come tumbling down in an avalanche of treachery and murder.

Inspired by the love triangle involving Caesar, Cleopatra, and Mark Antony, the author of Sins of the Fathers and The Wheel of Fortune—known for writing “impressive fiction imbued with moral questions”—presents an unforgettable saga of an American dynasty in the tumultuous years between the two world wars (Publishers Weekly).

This ebook features an illustrated biography of Susan Howatch including rare photos and never-before-seen documents from the author’s personal collection.