The privileged life that Phoebe has enjoyed thanks to her investment broker husband Jake is shattered when he is arrested for ripping off his clients in a Bernie Madoff-like scam. Phoebe has been with Jake ever since her teens and stands by him, even though her two children urge her to cut all ties. The story then backtracks to the 1960s when Phoebe and Jake first got together, and takes us through Jake’s monumental rise after he sets up a private investment club that seems to never lose a dime.
The compelling story – told from both Phoebe and Jake’s perspectives - focuses on issues of loyalty, ambition and greed as Jake is slowly entrapped by his web of deceit. But perhaps it takes too long to get to the fall from grace, when Phoebe, as the unsuspecting wife, is left to deal with the shame and accusations.
The Widow of Wall Street, by Randy Susan Meyers, is a story about how a wife's loyalty is tested. The summary says: "Phoebe recognises fire in Jake Pierce's belly from the moment they meet as teenagers. As he creates a financial dynasty, she trusts him without hesitation - unaware his hunger for success hides a dark talent for deception.
When Phoebe learns her husband's triumph and vast reach rests on an elaborate Ponzi scheme her world unravels. As Jake's crime is uncovered, the world obsesses about Phoebe. Did she know her life was fabricated by fraud? Was she his accomplice?
While Jake is trapped in the web of his deceit, Phoebe is caught in an unbearable choice. Her children refuse to see her if she remains at their father's side, but abandoning him feels cruel and impossible.
From penthouse to prison, with tragic consequences rippling well beyond Wall Street, Randy Susan Meyers's latest novel exposes a woman struggling to survive and then redefine her life as her world crumbles." The Widow of Wall Street is out in April 2017.