Fortune: A Novel

by Ellen Won Steil

Overview

In this explosive novel about a decades-old mystery, shocking revelations of the past and the secrets of three women will be spilled when a small Midwest town announces a DNA lottery.

One drop of blood for a chance at a multimillion-dollar windfall. Is it a philanthropic gesture from a billionaire widow? Some suspect a darker motive behind the DNA lottery—one tied to the eighteen-year-old mystery of an infant’s unidentified remains that mars the history of idyllic Rosemary Hills, Iowa. Right after the blood lottery is announced, three local women fall under suspicion of knowing something about that night, and their carefully kept secrets threaten to spill out too.

Cleo is a divorced single mom forced to return to her hometown and accept a strange job reading to an invalid recluse; Jemma is a controversial state senator whose reelection campaign and teenage daughter have her on edge; and Alex, a divorce attorney, copes with a crumbling marriage of her own and the suffocating presence of a cold, overbearing mother.

Soon, unimaginable revelations of the past will collide with the present—and not just for Cleo, Jemma, and Alex. In this seemingly ordinary community, they aren’t the only ones with long-buried secrets.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781662512100
Publisher:	Amazon Publishing
Publication date:	10/01/2023
Pages:	347
Sales rank:	925,223
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.38(h) x 0.75(d)

About the Author

Ellen Won Steil grew up in Iowa in a Korean American family. She earned her BA in journalism from Drake University and a law degree from William Mitchell College of Law. She lives in Minnesota with her husband and two young sons. She believes most good stories have at least a hint of darkness in them. For more information, visit www.ewsteil.com.

Editorial Reviews

The unique premise of a DNA lottery had me hooked from the very first pages! Ellen Won Steil’s Lottery is an emotionally written tale demonstrating what happens when the power of a woman with the wealth and drive to find out the truth is pitted against three friends from high school with secrets to hide. The suspense culminates with the inevitable countdown to the DNA lottery.” —Georgina Cross, author of Nanny Needed, One Night, and The Stepdaughter

“With an irresistible premise that gets more unsettling by the page, Lottery is so much more than a random game of chance. Every ticket is a potential clue; every character has a fiercely guarded secret. You won’t be able to look away until the final name is drawn.” —Jessica Strawser, author of A Million Reasons Why

From the Publisher

Narrators Jane Oppenheimer, Jennifer Aquino, Lauren Ezzo, and Emily Lawrence portray four women whose lives are thrown into turmoil. It all begins with the announcement of a genetic lottery to find the parents of a child who is at the center of a twenty-year-old murder. Cleo, Jemma, and Alex thought they had left their deepest secrets behind in the town of Rosemary Hills, Iowa. But when an eccentric wealthy widow announces that she will give a literal fortune to one winner of a genetic lottery, their secrets are at risk of being exposed. Overall, the choice to use four narrators feels too weighty for the story. That said, Oppenheimer, Aquino, Ezzo, and Lawrence bring energy and strong character work to their roles, ensuring that listeners suspend disbelief. V.B. © AudioFile 2023, Portland, Maine

OCTOBER 2023 - AudioFile