The City of Illusion

Summary

In Ivan Abramson’s 'The City of Illusion', the narrative landscape is a bifurcated study of geographical longing and moral erosion. Claire, a protagonist defined by her restive spirit, finds herself ensconced in the verdant but suffocating opulence of a Southern plantation, bound to the wealthy Paul. Yet, her psyche is colonized by the siren song of New York City—a metropole she envisions as a secular Valhalla. When Douglas, a sophisticated Manhattan attorney, enters her orbit, he becomes the vessel for her exodus. In a gambit of breathtaking mendacity, Claire fabricates a scandalous infidelity to sever her marital ties, weaponizing her own reputation to secure a divorce. Her subsequent pilgrimage to the 'Big Apple' reveals the city not as a sanctuary, but as a labyrinth of duplicity. Douglas, the supposed paramour, is unmasked as a married man entrenched in the machinations of a District Attorney campaign, transforming Claire’s romantic odyssey into a harrowing descent into urban disillusionment.

Synopsis

Claire, a young Southern girl, marries wealthy plantation owner Paul but has always dreamed of moving to and living in New York City. She falls for Paul's New York lawyer Douglas, and when he goes back to "The Big Apple", she fibs to her husband that she had been having an affair with Douglas and wants a divorce. However, when she travels to New York to be with him, she finds that he's already married and is running for District Attorney. Complications ensue.