Trials — Anne Tolstoi Wallach

Pax Peyton Ford and Rosa Macario are both New York City judges. More than that, they have bonds of deep affection that go back to when the older Pax played the part of mentor to Rosa, helping to guide her from a childhood in the barrio to a place on the judicial bench. Now each is a candidate for the next vacancy in the state high court. Their friendship could easily survive such competition, but when they are drawn to the same man, a painful rivalry begins. Leonard Scholer is the dynamic defense attorney who initially courted Pax, but she breaks things off when he enters the sensational child-custody case over which she presides. Leonard is soon involved with Rosa. The custody case throws Pax into the center of a maelstrom of political and social pressure. As she struggles to maintain order, she becomes aware that Leonard is grooming Rosa to supplant her in his life - and in the unspoken struggle for the appellate court seat. Yet she is also in despair of losing her life-long friendship with a woman she considers a sister. Compellingly told, Trials weaves together courtroom drama, romantic turmoil, and bonds of friendship set against a shimmering backdrop of power and big-city life. By featuring two appealing heroines who pull the reader's heart in opposing directions, Anne Tolstoi Wallach has created a masterful drama that explores divided loyalties and crucial choices, raising women's fiction to a new level of insight and illumination.