Book Review: 'Marrying Mom' (1996)

It seems First Wives creator Olivia Goldsmith has done an about-face: Her latest novel Marrying Mom is actually an ode to old-fashioned wedded bliss. Three grown children are thrown into a panicky dither when their 70-year-old mother announces she is moving back to New York City from her retirement home in Florida to help them sort out their lives. Desperate to distract her, they come up with a plan: Marry her off to a millionaire. Accordingly, they install Mom in a suite at the Pierre hotel, bully her into a salon makeover and a couture wardrobe, and arrange for her to be seated at a table full of elderly but eligible bachelors at a benefit ball. Despite a few courtship bumps, all proceeds swimmingly. Like Christmas pudding, this tale is kitschy and it's obvious, but it's also fun and strangely genial; and it goes down quickly with no trouble at all. 'Tis the season. B+