Nature and Fortune

A precisely observed black comedy of manners, Nature and Fortune is a twenty-first-century Cinderella story, awash in new money and bad choices. December 2012, New York City: Becca, a sculptor, is by her own admission not excelling when she meets Sean, an asset manager who is. It’s love, or at least lust, at first sight. When Sean’s firm transfers him to London, Becca sees an opportunity to escape her grinding life of roommates, bad bosses, and perpetually damp towels. Three weeks later, they’re at city hall getting married; two days after that, they’re in England. For the first time in years, Becca is free to concentrate on her art. But as she settles uncomfortably into her new identity as a rich man’s wife in an alien city, she finds her thoughts drifting to the ghosts of her past—and to the handsome older artist with whom she shares a studio wall. As she navigates a world of deal-closing dinners, gallery openings, and tennis clubs, Becca struggles to remain faithful, make art, and secure her material future, three goals that aren’t always entirely aligned. When her life breaks down under the pressure of its contradictions, the resulting fallout will leave no one unscathed. Combining the icy elegance of Emma Cline with the timeless humor of Jane Austen, this debut novel is a sly and entrancing chronicle of how love and money shape and warp us all.