An inside view of the greed and social power plays behind the closed doors of upper-crust society, An Absolute Scandal looks at a world where money isn't everything . . . sometimes, it's the only thing. And when the money disappears in the thick of a financial crisis, the real story [...] Nigel Cowper, this means the destruction of his family business; his wife, Lucinda, is willing to do everything she can to help him—except give up her irresistible lover. The powerful, charismatic banker Simon Beaumont and his equally successful wife Elizabeth lose everything they've worked so hard to acquire; but the ultimate tragedy is something that neither one could have anticipated. Yet the well-to-do are not the only ones whose lives are upended: a self-sufficient widow, a single mother, and a schoolmaster find that their lives are also turned upside down in this deliciously readable tale.