The Children of the Roses

Published in hardcover in May 2004 by Sourcebooks, Warren Adler's 27th novel, "The Children of the Roses," is a modern tale of family deception and redemption that follows the second generation of the Rose family, years after the horrific divorce saga so poignantly recorded in "The War of the Roses" (his 1985 novel made into a successful film starring Danny DeVito, Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner). "The Children of the Roses" updates us with Josh, now a hapless philanderer who just might be in trouble with the mob. But that's the least of his worries: wife Victoria is a vengeful legal shark posing unhappily as a soccer mom; son Michael is on the verge of being expelled from private school for petty theft; inpoverished and obese sister Evie is selling off her furniture yet still mainlining vintage Bordeaux and Baked Alaska. A rollicking tale of what some people will do -- to and for each other -- to keep a family together.