Shining Through by Susan Isaacs

It's 1940 and Linda Voss, legal secretary extraordinaire, has a secret. She's head over heels in love with her boss, John Berringer, the pride of the Ivy League. Not that she even has a chance--he'd never take a second look at a German-Jewish girl from Queens who spends her time taking care of her faded beauty of a mother and following bulletins on the war in Europe. For Linda, though, the war will soon become all too real. Engulfing her nation and her life, it will offer opportunities she's never dreamed of. A chance to win the man she wants...a chance to find the love she deserves. Made into the movie of the same name starring Melanie Griffith, Michael Douglas, and Liam Neeson, Shining Through is a novel of honor, sacrifice, passion, and humor. This is vintage Susan Isaacs, a tale of a spirited woman who wisecracks her way into heroism and history--and into your heart. Editorial Reviews Review Linda Voss is an irrestistible heroine...She's exactly the bright and resourceful heroine we all feel we could be.San Francisco ChronicleTotally captivating.Chicago Sun-TimesAs close to a 1940s movie as a book can get. It's like the kind of big, exciting movie we liked best then, in which someone pretty much like us takes incredible risks for unimpeachable motives and wins just what we wanted.The New York Times Book Review --This text refers to the mass_market edition. From Publishers Weekly A truly compulsive read, Isaacs's fourth novel (after Almost Paradise) is a smooth blend of romantic fiction and spy thriller. Again demonstrating her unbeatable flair for down-to-earth dialogue, sassy, outspoken heroines and social nuances that convey character and period, Isaacs tells a Cinderella story with a contemporary twist. Linda Voss is a 31-year-old secretary to the dreamiest looking man on Wall Street, international lawyer John Berringer, with whom she is secretly and hopelessly in love: she is a poor girl from Queens, and he boasts an Ivy League background along with his perfect profile. When circumstances lead to their unlikely marriage, however, sexual fireworks keep them together. As World War II engulfs Europe, the Berringers move to Washington, where both become involved in undercover work for the COI, soon to become the OSS. Heartbreak, plus a feeling of kinship for the victims of Nazism, leads Linda, whose childhood was spent in a German-speaking household, to volunteer for a dangerous mission in Berlin. There, events tumble her into heroic action. Isaacs's depiction of daily life in wartime Germany rings with accurate detail, as does her picture of the American espionage organization and of the psychological orientation of the people who made up its ranks. She has hit her stride here with a book that has all the marks of a runaway bestseller. 300,000 copy first printing; $300,000 ad/promo; movie rights to Columbia; paperback rights to Ballantine; Literary Guild and Doubleday Book Club dual main selections. Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the mass_market edition. From the Publisher As a publisher, one of the things I hate the most is when big screen movies and made-for-TV movies take really well written, interesting stores and make horrible movies out of them And in doing so turn thousands of people away from a truly enjoyable reading experiences. Sadly, such is the case for both ALMOST PARADISE and SHINING THROUGH. Do yourself a big favor and beware the screen. Both of these books are marvelous romances, and it took me a long time to get around to reading them, for I was a snob, and didn't 'read romances'. The joke was on me however, where these two novels are concerned, for they have great characters and such stories of love! SHINING THROUGH is also a W.W.II thriller, with the heroine infiltrating the house of a Nazi official. The love of nation and of freedom is also accented. In ALMOST PARADISE, the romance of Jane and Nicky begins before they were born, and the book takes us through their lifetimes... It made me laugh out loud on one page then had me in tears a few pages later. You will need several kleenex to get through the last few pages, trust me. The trick in both books is that Susan Isaacs makes us care passionately about her characters. Both books are equally hard to put down once you start, but what do you care? It's not like you have a movie to watch. -Alice Kesterson, Regional Sales Manager --This text refers to the mass_market edition. From the Inside Flap with heartbreak, drama and thrills...Marvelously readable. THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER It's 1940 and Linda Voss, secretary extraordinaire, has a secret: she's in love with her boss, John Berringer, the pride of the Ivy Leage. Not that he'd take a second look at her, a German-Jewish girl from Queens who spends her time caring for her faded beauty of a mother, and following the news of the war that is engulfing Europe. How Linda wins and loses her man, puts her life on the line for her beliefs, and finally gets the man she deserved all along is the story that only Susan Isaacs, author of the accalimed bestseller MAGIC HOUR, can tell. --This text refers to the mass_market edition. About the Author Susan Isaacs is the bestselling author of eleven novels, two screenplays, and one work of nonfiction. She lives on Long Island. --This text refers to the mass_market edition. Excerpt. ? Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. Chapter One In 1940, when I was thirty-one and an old maid, while the whole world waited for war, I fell in love with John Berringer. An office crush. Big deal. Since the invention of the steno pad, a day hasn't gone by without some secretary glancing up from her Pitman squiggles and suddenly realizing that the man who was mumbling ...and therefore, pursuant to the above... was the one man in her life who could ever bring her joy. So there I was, a cliche with a number 2 yellow pencil: a working girl from Queens who'd lost her heart to the pride of the Ivy League. And to make matters worse, John Berringer bore absolutely no resemblance to the typical Wall Street international lawyer, the kind whose gray face was two shades paler than his suit. Sure, a girl could wind up losing her heart to one of those dreary men. There's nothing quieter than an old maid's bedroom, and in that black stillness it's so easy to create magic: A lawyer with the profile of a toad--Abracadabra!--is transformed into an Adonis, pulsating with passion under his pinstripes. But John didn't need any of that midnight magic to turn him gorgeous. The big joke in the law firm was how could I not have a mad crush on him. You've got to be made of iron, Linda, one of the girls said at lunch, not to go nuts for those blue eyes. They're blue like- Someone at the far end of the table called out, Twilight! And someone else chimed in, No, like a clear lake ... but with a funny kind of depth, like on a cloudy day. John Berringer made poets out of stenographers. Someone else piped up, Come on...blue like pansies, and Gladys Slade, my best friend, called out from the head of the lunch table, How can anybody even think of the word 'pansy' in the same sentence with 'Mr. Berringer' in it? Everyone giggled. In private, Gladys said, Listen, Linda, don't kid a kidder. I'm the first person to understand your not wanting to make a public announcement, but even if you didn't care about looks, think about brains. I mean, you're always reading the papers and wanting to talk about--oh, God, you know English naval power. Or French politics. So aren't you attracted to someone brilliant like him? I bet he loves all that boring stuff. It's not boring. Three quarters of the world is-- He's so charming, she cut me off. Like a blond Cary Grant. Gladys, I explained, when you sit across the desk from this guy day in and day out, you realize he's always charming. It kind of wafts up from him, like B.O. Don't you get it? It doesn't mean anything. And his looks...Yeah, he's handsome, but what's behind it? That's for you to find out, Gladys ho-ho-hoed. I've got to tell you, I said, there's something deepdown unappealing about a man who knows he's stunning and uses it. You know, like it's six-fifteen and you're so tired all you want to do is suck your thumb, but he has fortyseven letters he still wants to dictate. So he flashes that five-thousand-watt smile and that's supposed to brighten up your life and make you want to go on. But see, a guy who pulls that sort of thing isn't... Isn't what? Isn't masculine. Oh, come off it! I'm serious, Gladys. And he's much too blond. Girls are fair. Guys should be dark. And with those big blue eyes. It's like some artist made him up to illustrate 'Cinderella.' Can't you just see him, with green stockings and those bubble shorts, holding a glass slipper? I can see him with green stockings...and without green stockings. This was a very racy remark for Gladys, whose idea of wild sex was Fred Astaire loosening his tie. He's Prince Charming, I said. Who needs it? I've got to stay late when he asks me, even if he looked like a pile of you-know-what. It's my job. But he thinks: Ha! I've charmed her. I've got her where I've got all the girls, in the palm of my hand. I looked Gladys straight in the eye. You know why he doesn't do a thing for me? Because he's a woman's man. Not a real man. Naturally, I was lying through my teeth. But I kept my secret love a secret. I would not let myself (as his secretary) be honorary president of the John Berringer Fan Club. What I felt for John wasn't meant to be shared with the girls. It was precious, and different. Because even way back then, I felt I was different. But was I (am I?) really different in any way from all the women from Brooklyn and Queens and the Bronx who trekked up the stairs from the subway every morning and got lost in the dark canyons, the gloomy buildings that loomed over Wall Street? Well, I'm not in Queens anymore. I'm certainly not a secretary. I'm not the girl I was. But how did I get all the way here from there? Because when America finally did go to war, the other subway secretaries fought Hitler by saving their bacon grease in fin cans and putting makeup on their legs instead of silk stockings. My fight, though, was different--perilous, real. I wound up in the middle of the Nazi hellhole. Me, Linda Voss. --This text refers to the mass_market edition.