Photo credit: Janet Donovan
“Please buy the book so she can [buy] me an apartment,” joked Sharon Glickman, mother of Toni Glickman, author of Champagne at Seven, who was honored at a book launch at Cafe Milano. The book is one of three in the Bitches of Fifth Avenue series: “Olivia Wyatt, a mid-40s, rich Washingtonian who beautifully plays the part of mother, socialite, philanthropist, wife and Stepford cut-out doll in the chardonnay and whiskey-wrapped superficial world in which she lives. Her exclusive last minute DC dinner party didn’t quite end how she had anticipated. Tragic news was served up late night instead of her planned dessert of luscious and blissful black forest cake. Olivia and her daughter, Gwynnie, suddenly need to rebuild their lives—and themselves.”
Mother Sharon, daughter Gigi, author Toni, son Bruno
“Okay. So I know everyone wants to mingle and I know everyone here that knows me, knows that I have like a thousand questions that I want to ask, but I’m gonna kick it to four,” said moderator Rebecca Cooper, former popular TV host. “I promise because the first part of this book is so Washington DC insider that it’s a great read for anyone, but we’ve got a lot of Washington DC insiders here in this room so we’re gonna try and peel back from fiction. So Toni, this book is so much fun. Thank you for writing it. I can’t wait to read the other two. And first can I say we are so spoiled in Washington we always want a free copy of the book, but let’s call Amazon and order it instead.”
Rebecca Cooper
“So this book gets off to a great start with a DC dinner party with our heroin Olivia Wyatt. Olivia Wyatt was the new and improved Evangeline Bruce, DC’s most infamous hostess, only younger sexier and with a way better wardrobe. So the heroin lets herself have a glass of champagne before guests arrive and she says, ‘Well, this is DC after all, where alcohol is practically a six U S D food group.’ So I wanna know since you definitely know the DC dinners party scene, ‘What amuses you most about the typical DC dinner party?'”
“I would say it depends who’s at the table, of course,” responded Toni. “In DC that could be anybody. I mean, it could be an Ambassador, it could be journalists, it could be a veteran, it could be private public sector guests. I like to push people to see how far I can get them. You never know what you’re going to hear or find out from somebody in DC and I’d like to see if I can push someone out of their comfort zone and in Washington, most people are pretty – no matter what party they’re at – they’re pretty conservative and pretty standoffish. So if I can get somebody to relax a little bit and kind of open up, then, you know, at least I’m trying to have a good time.”
“So I love the way in the book you even sneak in DC mentions of some of the ultimate DC people without even fully explaining it,” noted Cooper. “So there’s one part of the book where she just casually mentions Dr. Alster. Well, everybody knows who that is. It’s Tina Alster, the woman who has a secret service entrance for her practice. So I want to encourage you to read the book because you can see a lot of mentions that you’ll know, but not every reader will know. So it’s fun for that and you say in the book, half the women are in Georgetown. Do people in your book know that they’re in this book and what do they think of being in this book?”
Lynn Blitzer and Sharon Glickman
“The only one I told was Dr. Alster. I didn’t say anything to anybody, although I did mention both Wolf Blitzer and The Situation Room, but otherwise, I didn’t really say anything.”
“Well, one of our co-hosts has arrived – Lynn Blitzer. We’re gonna ask her if Wolf liked the mention. I think personally knowing Wolf, I think Wolf will be thrilled to be mentioned in your book. Lynn, thumbs up or thumbs down. ‘Never had a mention he didn’t like.'”
