Maxi Amerville, in searching for a unique new approach for the magazine she is launching, buys copies of all the women's magazines on sale and discovers that, without exception, they seek to make their readers feel guilty for being overweight or plain or unmarried or imperfect mothers, wives and lovers. Despite the fact that Maxi herself suffers from few of these problems, being rich, beautiful, desirable and singularly unguilty about her several failed marriages, she resolves to create a magazine which will encourage women to be happy with themselves just the way they are.

This is an unexpected discovery in a novel which unabashedly celebrates the life of a rich, spoiled and self-indulgent young woman. Krantz has created an escapist fantasy for women who struggle to make ends meet, who hold down boring tedious jobs, who are aware of the lack of glamour in their own...