The Three Weissmanns of Westport by Cathleen Schine

Jane Austen has always been popular, but new variations on her novels also abound. In The Three Weissmanns, Schine has changed the locations and circumstances of Austen’s Sense and Sensibility, while capturing perfectly the comic and serious themes.
Betty and Joseph Weissmann have been married for nearly fifty years when he falls in love with his scheming business assistant and kicks Betty out of their comfortable Manhattan apartment. Simultaneously daughter Miranda loses her business as a literary agent when Oprah reveals that several of her authors have written fraudulent memoirs. Neither of them knows how to manage money and leave it up to sensible daughter Annie to sort things out. When a rich cousin offers them sanctuary in a modest Westport, Connecticut cottage, they move in together. Predictably, Betty and Miranda continue to buy “essentials” like expensive haircuts while Annie scrimps to keep them afloat. Cousin Lou’s good-hearted schemes to find them husbands are hilariously inept, but both sisters do find love in unexpected places.
Austen’s social commentary on the financial vulnerability of single women still resonates and Schine’s clever plotting will keep you guessing. You only think you know how this story ends.

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Recommended by Sarah Redman.