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Chance can change lives in a split second but the results can
last a lifetime. Such is the case in Lilian Duval’s latest book,
You Never Know, where two families live very different
lifestyles; one struggling and dealing with tragedy and one
affluent. While they manage to remain friends, things change
after one buys a winning Mega Millions lottery ticket and their
lifestyle roles are reversed. While Duval’s characters cleverly
introduce moral values into the story in an inspiring way, make
no mistake, there is nothing preachy or predictable about this
engaging page-turner –
it is full of surprises to the very end.
Chance also played a part in the real life of the author; she
and her husband are survivors of the attack on the WTC Towers in
2001 and both made career changes as a result.
An Accidental Lottery Winner – Find Out What Happens When An
Ordinary Person Becomes Extraordinary
Ridgewood, NJ, November 4, 2011 - You Never Know (Wheatmark,
Inc.) by Lilian Duval is a novel about two different families;
one having suffered great tragedy and struggling financially,
and the other affluent, and how making the choice to buy a Mega
Millions lottery ticket changed their lives forever.
Tobias Hillyer starts out in life with his own set of problems:
a condescending father, alcoholic mother, and Simeon - his
artistically gifted younger brother. While visiting them over
Christmas, his life is changed forever when a tragic car
accident leaves both parents dead and seriously injures his
younger brother. This once-promising anthropology major, always
one to do the right thing, is forced to abandon his dreams in
order to care for his orphaned, brain-damaged sibling. Stuck in
a low-paying job, he marries Carmela, a psychiatric nurse he met
while his brother was in the hospital.
In contrast, Tobias’s college roommate Martin seems to get more
than his fair share of good luck; having graduated college,
married well, and landed a high-paying job with Lehman Brothers
in New York. Yet despite the difference in their incomes, the
two couples and their children keep in touch.
When Tobias buys a lottery ticket on a whim and wins the
jackpot, everything changes for the better…or does it? Suddenly
the roles are reversed, and Tobias and Carmela live out their
fantasies while Martin faces bankruptcy. When problems begin and
life gets more difficult and less predictable, Tobias nearly
loses everything he holds most dear as he tries to get his mind
around this staggering amount of money.
Simeon surfaces as the unexpected hero of this novel by
realizing his own happiness and success as a result of his own
efforts. As he departs the nest to embark on his personal life
journey, he leaves his family with a gift that brings them full
circle and grants Tobias inner peace – making this a story of
triumph rather than defeat.
While the characters in You Never Know are unpredictable and
surprising to the very end, they are nonetheless sincere and
likeable with an inner strength that surfaces in times of
struggle. Through her characters, Duval cleverly introduces
moral values in a winning and inspiring way without coming
across as boring
or sermonizing.
Duval adds suspense to the story by intimating how the
characters may be impacted by the eventual terrorist attack on
the World Trade Center, drawing a parallel with what she and her
husband experienced as actual survivors of 9/11 and how their
lives were changed forever because of it. For more information,
please visit her website at:
www.lilianduval.com.
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