Silver Girl by Elin Hilderbrand

Reviewed by Ellen

I have to admit when I first saw this book on the New Fiction Shelf at Target during 2011, I turned up my nose a bit.  I thought, “How original, a rehash of the Bernie Madoff scandal.”  But recently I was running into my local library, scanning for a quick read, and grabbed this off of an end cap.  I am happy I did.  While the disaster that befalls, Meredith, the wife of the orchestrator of a fictional Ponzi scam is the storyline, I was drawn in by the rich character development and the authenticity of all of the relationships.  The friendship between Meredith and Connie is as messy as you would expect for two people who have known each other since childhood: full of mistakes, history, tears, jealousy, and forgiveness.

In fact, it is the skillful weaving of so many lives together that makes this book worth reading.  At 405 pages, it might last you through an entire vacation if you can actually put it down.