The War of the Roses

The War of the Roses tells the story of the Roses, starting with their fateful meeting as students, falling in love, and creating the perfect nuclear family. Oliver, a Harvard graduate and successful corporate lawyer, has his sights set on a major promotion while Barbara, a steely self-starter, runs her own catering company, wowing the upper echelons of Washington DC society. Along with their two children, grand mansion and joint hobby of visiting auction houses, the Roses seem to be the paragon of a family living the American Dream. But things then take an unexpected and shocking course.

Jonathan and Barbara Rose are the perfect couple, living the dream in their beautiful house, filled with their precious antiques, their darling children, and their prized Ferrari in the garage. It’s all any red-blooded American could possibly want. But when Jonathan experiences a sudden heart attack (or so he thinks) Barbara realizes that she wants a new life, without him. There’s just one problem: they both want the house. For husband and wife, it’s not just a residence: it’s a passion, one that will escalate an ugly divorce into a full-blown battlefield, complete with weapons and casualties.

Meet Josh and Evie Rose, heirs to the notorious legacy of Barbara and Jonathan. In The Children of the Roses, Adler delivers a darkly comic, razor-sharp sequel about love, family, and the havoc we inherit. Josh’s marriage to Victoria seems destined to avoid the mistakes of the past. But when a harmless prank involving missing Milky Ways at their son’s elite private school spirals into all-out war, everything changes.