The Fortune by Michael Korda, is my first read by this author. A highly captivating read, it is the story of Alexa, who is married to the owner of a vast fortune, and on the very same day, her husband dies, leaving behind a legacy of truth or fiction, about his death, his widow, and ofcourse, the fortune, for Elizabeth. The story is filled with a lot of characters, a rich, very rich, family and the fight of this young girl of 24, against her so-called ’in-laws’, namely Eleanor Bannerman, head of the Bannerman family. While starting this book, I was a little hesitant, as I had not read any other book by the same author, but then, as the saying goes, there’s always a first time.
The very theme on which this book is based, is not identifiable in today’s world. How many of your neighbours can you name, who are 65 yr olds and married to women half their age? NONE. So, in a break with tradition, the protagonist of this story is married to a man twice her age, and secondly, we wouldn’t find that rich a family, in today’s world.
Now, this guy, by the name of Arthur Aldon Bannerman, dies on the night of his wedding, leaves his entire estate to Alexa, and a marriage certificate, which proves the very this that is contradicted, his marriage to Alexa. The story revolves around the beliefs of the Bannerman Family, which is divided although unequally, into people who believe Alexa’s story and those who dont. Of course, the head of the family, mother of Arthur Bannerman, dismisses the story as a fluke the first time she hears it, and nearly all of the members follow suit.
The rest of the story, contains the sequence of events that take place as Alexa sets out to claim what is her own, to fight against Arthur’s and now her, family, to be what she rightly should be,
the Head Of The Bannerman Family