The Ex-Mrs. Hedgefund by Jill Kargman

From the Publisher

In The Right Address, Jill Kargman went behind the doors of New York's most prestigious building. In Wolves in Chic Clothing, the junior jet set took center stage. In Momzillas, it was hyper-competitive Upper East Side mothers. And now, in The Ex- Mrs. Hedgefund, Kargman creates a hilarious, deliciously scathing send-up of the ultra-rich, ultra-ambitious hedge fund set.

Seemingly sheltered from the threats of economic collapse and the risk of downsizing from new Roger Viviers to consignment Manolos, the Hedge Fund men and their wives occupy a world of boundless excess and secluded luxury, a step above the already outrageous wealth of the Upper East Side.

Married to the founder of Comet Capital, Holly Talbott is slowing becoming a reluctant Mrs. Hedgefund. Sure, it's great to be a stay-at-home mom to her son Miles and to have a rolodex of eager donors when she is fundraising for the local hospital. But, the lunches are called luncheons because they take eons, even botox can't stop her mother-in-law's withering stares, and her husband, Tim, is away so often it feels like she's single again.

When an adventure in trendy Williamsburg leads to a shocking discovery, Holly soon learns that not all of Tim's trips have been for business. Forced to choose between living honestly and being a Mrs. Hedgefund, Holly begins to navigate a new New York existence and finds that sometimes exes have all the fun, and in the most unexpected places...

Publishers Weekly

In the gilded age of a few months ago, hedge fund managers were "the kings of ka-ching." Of course, now they're not, and there's a sparky frisson to Momzilla author Kargman's lively chronicle of a queen of ka-ching who ditches her hedge fund manager hubby. Hedge-fund wife Holly Talbott, 34, has forgone Botox and boob jobs and considers herself "more J. Crew than J. Mendel." She also thinks she has a happy marriage despite her ferocious mother-in-law and the cattiness of keeping up with the yummy mummies of her son's schoolmates. But once she and best friend Kiki discover her husband's cheating ways, the knives come out: among other things, the tough pre-nup makes divorcing the ultra-rich hedgie trickier than she expects. Dating isn't much easier, but readers will know to hold out for the glowing happy ever after. Effervescent Holly's romp through wealthy Manhattan is a gleeful little bonbon. (Apr.)

Kirkus Reviews

A Wall Street wife attempts to bid goodbye to all that. Holly Talbott's husband Tim wheels and deals for powerhouse Comet Capital, and she's an acute observer of the grazing habits of "hedgies." Kargman (Momzillas, 2007, etc.) presents Holly as morally superior to her adopted uberclass, though her mini-revolts are hardly earth-shattering. She doesn't do luncheons. Avowedly superannuated at 34, she resolves to resist the Botox- and lipo-assisted ageless look. She bucks family ire to meet on the sly with potty-mouthed BFF Kiki, an outspoken Jewish fish-out-of-water among the WASP-y Talbotts who has just divorced Tim's brother, much to the chagrin of the clan's dragon-lady matriarch. On a clandestine expedition to Brooklyn, Holly and Kiki spot Tim in midclench with a gold-digging vixen. From there we get the too-familiar social travails of the ex-Mrs. Master of the Universe. Holly is blackballed from the blue-chip fundraising circuit, politely shunned (while dropping her son Miles off at school) by her fellow yummy-mummies and forced to date off Wall Street. So is Kiki, who abandons her trash-talking-sexpot persona-and her contempt for too-handsome guys-the minute she meets gallery impresario Lyle Spence. Holly's dating woes mount: She dallies with clubsters obsessed with collectible sneakers, mistakes a cockroach for a caress and is kicked out of a Connecticut cabin by a would-be date rapist. Although distinguished by Kargman's wit, this is less social satire than standard-issue romantic comedy: Holly and Kiki prevail, not by forsaking rich men, but by attracting nicer ones. Readers hoping for a serves-them-right tell-all as the charmed lives of the Talbotts and their ilk disintegrate willhave to settle for two pages of post-subprime "follow-ups"; the novel was obviously written before financial Armageddon arrived. Funny, but in the current economic context, ill-timed.

Product Details