A Daughter's Promise

The fortunes of two sisters, Iris and Laura Roth, are chronicled in this formulaic, multifaceted saga by the author of Rich Is Better. The girls were teenagers in 1924 when their father Jacob, convicted of raping and murdering a 14-year-old millworker in Magnolia, Ga., was seized by the KKK and lynchedan obvious reference to the notorious Leo Frank case. With a small loan from the frightened Jewish community, both girls are quickly sent to New York, where, traumatized but resilient, they each resolve to address the past in different ways. Laura is determined to return to Magnolia and clear their father's name. Iris wants total escape, quick wealth and a life in high society. After an abortive film career she marries a wealthy but kinky British lord. Laura becomes an attorney and returns anonymously to Georgia with her two small children. Her future as a female Jewish lawyer in Magnolia during the Depression is bleak, so with the aid of a dedicated staff and her sister's invaluable network of social and political connections, she builds a real estate empire. Ellis's tale contains dozens of sub-plots and numerous characters up and down the social spectrum. Though predictable, the narrative will please romance fans, to whom it will hardly matter that the resolution of the murder is compromised and contrived. (June)