Texas Rich

First lines

The crisscross-patterned lace curtains, which should have been silk organdy but were rayon instead, billowed in the soft May breeze.

About this book

The extraordinary novel that introduces the unforgettable Coleman family—and the brilliant heroine who began a powerful American dynasty Young Billie Ames naively fell for the exciting pilot Moss Coleman at the Philadelphia Navy Yard during World War II. Within a few months she was pregnant, married, and traveling across the country to Austin . . . to the 250,000-acre spread known as Sunbridge and into the tantalizing world of the Texas rich. In a vast land dominated by the industrious Colemans, Billie fights to maintain control of her life and her marriage. This is the captivating story of four generations. There’s Moss, living in the shadow of a father whose obsession with power overshadows the needs of his only son; Jessica, the doomed mother who gave up everything to become the perfect Coleman wife; Moss and Billie’s children, desperately trying to live up to insurmountable expectations; and the grandchildren, heirs to a tarnished empire who just might fulfill their dreams. Most of all this is the triumphant story of Billie Ames Coleman, a woman of courage and strength who holds them all together—in a tale as magnificent as the land that inspired it.

Themes & subjects

About the author

Fern Michaels

9 April 1933

Fern Michaels is the pen name of Mary Ruth Kuczkir, who was born in Hastings, Pennsylvania on April 9, 1933, weighing only four and one-half pounds. Because of her small birth weight, Michaels' father nicknamed her "Dink," for "dinky little thing. Her family and friends still use the nickname. As a child, though, others referred to her as Ruth. Once she entered the business world, she became "Mary." Michaels married, moved to New Jersey, and had five children. When the youngest entered school in 1973, her husband told her to get a job. Because she had no idea how to get a job, Michaels decided to try to write a book. Her husband was not very supportive of her efforts, and consequently the…