The Brides

Berkowitz's debut novel of rags-to-riches romance features three Cinderellas linked by a legendary bridal emporium. Erica Valenta, only child of poor Czech immigrants, gets a scholarship to Radcliffe and later becomes the top female corporate executive in America. Melissa John, gorgeous but also poor, sleeps with and marries powerful men who make her a movie star. Transplanted to Manhattan, Arkansas hillbilly Earline/Cindy Prewitt rises from street prostitute to high-class call girl, then surfaces as a famous fashion model. Virtually a fourth character in the novel is Goldsmith's, the bridal salon that plays a part in each of the women's lives. Berkowitz's prose is never more than pedestrian. She authenticates plot developments by ``reproducing'' interviews and articles about her three protagonists from Thisweek , a magazine roughly approximating People , and offers a generous variety of sex: thrilling, degrading, kinky. Her over-idealized heroines swim through the shark-infested waters of L.A. and Manhattan without ever losing their inherent goodness. Despite the trio's grand ambitions, Berkowitz sends a homely message: love is the only prize worth winning. (June)