Literary blogger Maud Newton tipped us off to this week's release of Valerie Ann Leff's Better Homes and Husbands, a class feud played out at the fictional pre-war co-op 980 Park Avenue. A special Curbed operative has plunged in to find a choice excerpt, which we now share:
Dick explained to his associate that this wasn't the kind of situation where anybody wanted to sue anyone. Neither Ivan Reynolds nor Danny Tchartikoff was about to take the stand in an antidiscrimination suit. "But think of the publicity!" the young lawyer said. "They'd be heroes." "Nobody wants publicity around the fact that they were turned down by a Park Avenue co-op board. We just need to find a way so it won't happen again."
"His associate came back the next day with an idea. The election of the board of directors was coming up. There was a clause in the footnote to the co-op bylaws that could, theoretically, allow a shareholder to pool his votes and cast them all for one director... "What you'd have to do, given the number of apartments in your building, is find two more shareholders to team up with, then decide which of you would run. You'd get a man on the board, and one witness should be enough to keep them from pulling any more tricks."
Dick could count on the baroness's estate to vote with him and Bob. But who would be the fourth ally?
Clearly, this book is the answer for your post-The Right Address reading needs. As always, you can thank us later.
· Better Homes and Husbands [Amazon]
· The release of Better Homes and Husbands [Maud Newton]