Orphans

THE STORY: For the past 25 years Lily and Catherine Spangler have lived in seclusion in their hotel room, their only visitor being their lawyer, who delivers (in cash) the profits from the steel mill they inherited from their father. When they first moved into the Chalfont it was the best hotel in town, but the years have taken their toll, and now (although the sisters are not aware of it) it is rundown, almost deserted, and limping along with a skeleton staff. The clientele has suffered too; their next-door-neighbor is a prostitute with a heart of gold, and the bellhop, Herman, is a con artist who schemes to cheat the sisters out of the six million dollars he knows they have tucked away in a trunk by passing himself off as a long-lost cousin. Lily, the older sister, who has persuaded Catherine that she has protected her from all the cares of the world, is guarded and suspicious about all this, but the gentle, warm-hearted Catherine, who is aching to know more of life and the outside world, falls easily into Herman's trap. Inevitably their isolation must end, but facing reality, and the truth, proves to be a great deal easier-and funnier-than either sister had ever imagined.Prideaux, James is the author of 'Orphans ', published 1980 under ISBN 9780822208648 and ISBN 0822208644.