PALM BEACH

When Mickey and Rebecca meet at a mid-town bar, both in their mid-30s, his career is bottoming out and hers is taking off. Just like that, they're in love. They wed at the Queens Court House on a blustery November day, move into a two-bedroom in Astoria, and make everyone jealous with how damn happy they seem.

Fast forward a year, and the couple have just moved to Palm Beach, Florida, with their brand-new baby son, Bash (Sebastian) in tow. Not what either of them would have considered a dream destination until recently, but New York City with a newborn is hard, plus Mickey's landed a good job in the Sunshine State, working for Freddie Wampler, billionaire Democrat, while Rebecca is writing a column for New York Magazine online. It's just for a year, they tell themselves. But then Mickey gets sucked into the world of Cecil Stone, a (Republican) vulture capitalist who has made the bulk of his billions dismantling local newspapers across the country. He makes Mickey an offer he can't refuse, even though Rebecca is furious at her husband for agreeing to what she considers a deal with the devil. Soon enough, Rebecca too is pulled into the orbit of the Stones', and she and Mickey find themselves moving in a new universe, an upstairs-downstairs household with inequalities they can't overlook, and privileges they can't afford to forego - especially not when Bash has a seizure, and with escalating medical bills they become more dependent than ever on the Stones' generosity and goodwill. As alliances shift and tensions escalate, and the Securities Commission starts to investigate the household, the house of cards seems one gust away from tumbling down. Rebecca and Mickey's rocky marriage may soon be the least of their problems... Mary Adkins holds a JD from Yale and is founder of a legal advisory firm working with public defenders. She has been published in the New York Times, Slate, The Atlantic, The Hairpin and the Huffington Post. WHEN YOU READ THIS, her debut, sold at auction in major deals in the US, UK, and Germany and has been licensed in eight other territories to date.