More Praise for Penny Vincenzi's WINDFALL

Another stellar review for Penny Vincenzi's Windfall has arrived: "In London 1935, Cassia Tallow has been married to a practicing doctor Edward for seven years while she has stayed home to raise their three young children. She is somewhat envious of her spouse as she also was trained as a doctor, but he insists she stay at home. Cassia is scrubbing the alter steps when she learns she inherited a fortune from her godmother, Lady Beatty, who drank Champagne with the rich, aristocratic and famous like Edward VIII. With a half a million pounds, Cassia has the means to join the upper crust if she chooses or practice medicine to the neglected working-class women as she once dreamed of; something her husband objects to. However, Cassia soon begins to learn that her liberating windfall may not rightfully belong to her; ethical as always, she investigates with a need to learn the truth. Sometimes the truth will not set you free as Cassia learns that with each revelation comes increasing danger.

This a typical entertaining Penny Vincenzi historical thriller as the ethical heroine tries to do what is right, but finds that dangerous. Cassia makes the story line work as her actions after learning of her WINDFALL place her in opposition with her demanding spouse and to a degree her children, but eventually she goes after what she wants for herself: providing medical care to impoverish women. Fans of the author and those who enjoy a between World Wars English historical will want to read Ms. Vincenzi's blockbuster bonkbuster as the British would say over a cup of Earl Grey. - Midwest Book Review

Penny Vincenzi's WINDFALL in Booklist

Booklist takes note of Penny Vincenzi's Windfall: "Cassia Tallow, the independent, only child of a suffragette, wants to be a doctor, but given that she comes of age at the close of World War I, the closest she gets is marrying one. Cassia lives a quiet, pleasant life in West Sussex with her husband and their three children. Until the day she inherits half a million pounds from her sophisticated, slightly eccentric godmother. Suddenly everything is changed; everything is within reach; doors are open to her, and she can do whatever she likes. So Cassia moves to London and splurges on clothes, cars, and anything else she covets that she couldn’t afford before. But while she’s busy jetsetting around London, hanging out with glamorous people, and trying to restart her medical studies, she realizes that she’s hurting her husband and family in more ways than one. Then she begins to wonder where exactly the money she inherited came from. Another stirring novel with an ensemble cast from the prolific and entertaining Vincenzi."

Summer Reading: Penny Vincenzi's Classic Trilogy "The Spoils of Time"

Penny Vincenzi has just released a new novel The Best of Times, published by our friends at Doubleday, that is sure to be a summer bestseller. One of Britian's best-loved and most popular authors since her first novel was published in 1989, Penny Vincenzi has sold over four million books worldwide. Introduced to American readers by The Overlook Press, Penny's beloved backlist titles continue to find new readers. Coming this Fall from Overlook is Windfall, and a new paperback, An Outrageous Affair. For summer reading, we recommend Penny's classic Lytton family trilogy - "The Spoils of Time" - beginning with No Angel, followed by Something Dangerous and Into Temptation.

Penny Vincenzi's WINDFALL Coming In October 2009

For all you Penny Vincenzi fans, here's some very good news: Windfall will published by The Overlook Press in October 2009. A number one bestseller in Britain, Windfall is perhaps Penny Vincenzi’s most riveting family saga yet; a mesmerizing story of one woman's very complicated inheritance. After smashing successes with the American publication of six of Vincenzi’s "marvelously engrossing" (Barbara Taylor Bradford) novels, Overlook is thrilled to offer Windfall for American readers for the very first time.

Bookreporter on Penny Vincenzi's AN OUTRAGEOUS AFFAIR

Reviewer Norah Piehl takes a look at Penny Vincenzi's An Outrageous Affair on Bookreporter.com: "The Overlook Press, the small publishing house that first introduced American readers to the epic novels of Penny Vincenzi, is committed to bringing all of Vincenzi's backlist in print in the United States (even as another, larger publisher has snatched up her newest titles now that the word is out). An Outrageous Affair, first published in the United Kingdom in 1993, is another terrific example of Vincenzi's ability to bring together a couple dozen characters (and just as many subplots) in intriguing, titillating and outrageous ways. . .Fans of Penny Vincenzi's other novels will recognize trademark details here: the sprawling time frame, the large cast of characters, the teetering balance between scandal and propriety, between appearance and reality. Readers are also in for a particularly alluring historical ride this time around, as the action travels from old Hollywood to Madison Avenue advertising pitch meetings to the London theater scene to noble English country house culture. . Perhaps not surprising given its title, An Outrageous Affair has somewhat more (and more explicit) sex than many recent Vincenzi novels. Nonetheless, An Outrageous Affair gives readers more of what they've come to expect from Penny Vincenzi: a thoroughly enjoyable family saga with glamour, romance and drama to spare."

Penny Vincenzi's AN OUTRAGEOUS AFFAIR in The Seattle Times

Melinda Bargreen takes a look at Penny Vincenzi's An Outrageous Affair and An Absolute Scandal in The Seattle Times: "Fans of the best-selling British author Penny Vincenzi are in luck: her new novel, An Outrageous Affair, is being released only a few months after the first U.S. publication of an earlier book, An Absolute Scandal. They're both whomping big page-turners in the old-fashioned, over-the-top grand manner — full of colorful characters, plot twists, sex scenes and long-buried secrets."

Penny Vincenzi's AN OUTRAGEOUS AFFAIR and THE DILEMMA On Sale Now!

October brings joy to fans of bestselling author Penny Vincenzi with the release of An Outrageous Affair and the paperback edition of The Dilemma. Published for the first time for American audiences, An Outrageous Affair is one Penny's most enthralling novels: A mysterious, tragic accident in the 1950s; an inexplicable suicide twenty years later, and a secret which could not be kept for ever. Moving from wartime England to fifties Hollywood, from glitzy Madison Avenue to London's theatrical aristocracy and the machinations of check-book publishing, An Outrageous Affair explores the extraordinary, sometimes fatal, consequences of truth.

Penny Vincenzi on New York Times List of BEST BEACH BOOKS of the Summer

Janet Maslin of The New York Times includes Penny Vincenzi on her list of best chick-lit reading for the beach this summer: "Snobbery, treachery and status seeking are, of course, staples of the beach-book world. Penny Vincenzi, an accomplished if long-winded British writer whose style Publishers Weekly has called “chickensian,” has a particular affinity for all of the above.

Overlook has brought American readers five glittering epics by Penny Vincenzi, and the sixth will arrive in October with the long awaited publication of An Outrageous Affair. A number-one bestseller in Britain, this delicious page-turner is considered one of Penny's great family dramas.

Penny Vincenzi's AN OUTRAGEOUS AFFAIR in Publishers Weekly

Publishers Weekly reviews the forthcoming novel from Penny Vincenzi, An Outrageous Affair in this week's issue: "The latest sexy, overblown saga from Vincenzi’s British backlist tracks Lady Caroline Hunterton over 30 years, from the thick of WWII to the height of the counterculture. Her story is framed by an about-to-be-published tell-all from elusive yellow journalist Magnus Phillips, whose book unearths Caroline’s tragic and scandalous past, threatening everything she holds dear, especially the memory of Brendan FitzPatrick, her first love, and their daughter, Fleur. . . .Vincenzi provides plenty of heat and intrigue, and although a significant number of the multiple twists are expected, Vincenzi gives the sprawling whole enough oomph to carry one all the way through." An Outrageous Affair will be available in bookstores in October.

Valentine's Day Reading: PENNY VINCENZI

Any of Penny Vincenzi's novels offer romantic reading for Valentine's Day, and the new paperback edition of Almost A Crime is perfect place to start. Last year's The Dilemma is also a great page-turner - Penny's debut novel published in 1996 and only brought to American readers by The Overlook Press in 2007. This October, Overlook will publish An Outrageous Affair, perhaps her most sensational family saga yet. This tale moves from wartime England to fifties Hollywood, from glitzy Madison Avenue to London's theatrical aristocracy.

Great Books for Last Minute Shoppers

Christmas is only a few days away, and The Winged Elephant has a few suggestions for last-minute shoppers: Church Signs Across America is a great gift for everyone in the family - a guaranteed chuckle on Christmas morning. For kids, we recommend Beastly Feasts, the magnificent collaboration between Robert Forbes and illustrator Ronald Searle, and the new collector's edition of Emil and the Detectives, which features a new introduction by Maurice Sendak. For avid readers looking to spend the holidays curled up with a great novel, don't overlook Susan Hill's The Pure in Heart, Penny Vincenzi's The Dilemma, or Second Sight by Charles McCarry.

Penny Vincenzi's THE DILEMMA on Bookreporter

From the website Bookreporter.com comes a terrific review of Penny Vincenzi's The Dilemma: "The Overlook Press was the first American publisher to introduce the novels of Penny Vincenzi, a bestselling author in her native England, to American audiences. Although U.S. readers have yet to give Vincenzi the attention she deserves, her most recent novels have garnered the attention of a major U.S. publisher, Doubleday. Overlook Press, however, has continued its efforts to bring Vincenzi's backlist to American readers, and their latest endeavor is to release Vincenzi's debut novel (originally published in 1996) to the United States for the first time . . . The Dilemma is Vincenzi's debut novel, and readers already familiar with her subsequent fiction will notice how many elements of her successful novelistic formula have their genesis here. The quickly-shifting plotlines, the burgeoning cast of dozens of characters whose disparate lives soon become entangled for better or for worse, the oblique references to economic and political issues --- all these hallmarks of Vincenzi's more recent novels can be seen in The Dilemma, which is a hugely entertaining and even captivating read. Once American fans discover Vincenzi, they'll want to read everything she's written, and reading her debut is the perfect way to trace how Vincenzi skillfully developed the fiction-writing techniques that have served her so well in her many bestselling novels to date."

More Praise for Penny Vincenzi's THE DILEMMA

Penny Vincenzi's The Dilemma has finally reached American shores (and bookstores), and it's currently on top of the Overlook bestseller list!

"Fans of contemporary family sagas rich with drama and intrigue will thoroughly enjoy Penny Vincenzi's fiction debut, first published in Britain and now brought to the American reading public through a concerted effort by Overlook Press to republish Vincenzi's entire backlist of eight novels. Recommended. " - Library Journal

"Whether she will or not is only one of the dilemmas at the heart of Vincenzi’s ambitious debut novel. Originally published in the UK in 1996, it is now being offered to her growing American fan base. Although it would have benefited from some judicious editing, it nonetheless categorically establishes Vincenzi’s mastery of intricate plots and large, if stereotypical, casts of characters. Readers who have recently discovered Vincenzi will delight at being able to go back to her beginnings, while those who have yet to read her will welcome getting in on the ground floor." - Booklist

"A robust, complex family drama—first published in the U.K. in 1996 by the bestselling author of Almost a Crime and No Angel. Fans of Penny Vincenzi, prepared to read at her demanding scale, will find all of her plotting and characterization skills serving a familiar but very satisfying story." - Publishers Weekly

Penny Vincenzi's THE DILEMNA in PUBLISHERS WEEKLY

Next week's issue of Publishers Weekly offers a sneak preview of The Dilemma, Penny Vincenzi's first novel, which Overlook will release in October. Never before available in the U.S., "this robust, complex family drama" will thrill Penny's fans, old and new. PW notes that "fans of Sheer Abandon, prepared to read at Vincenzi's demanding scale, will find all of her plotting and characterization skills serving a familiar but very satisfying story."