वास्तव हे कल्पिताहून अदभुत असू शकतं. याचे दाखले जगात नेहमीच मिळत असतात. एकासारखी एक दिसणारी माणसं दुर्मीळ असतात, परंतु तशी असू शकतात. ’क्लोनिंग’च्या आजच्या जमान्यात तर अशा शेकडो व्यक्ती निर्माण करता येतील, इतकी मजल विज्ञानानं गाठलेली आहे.

भोवाल संन्याशाचा या शतकातील गाजलेला खटला आपल्याला आठवत असेल. एका फार मोठ्या संस्थानातील गायब झालेला गृहस्थ काही वर्षांनी अचानक घरी दाखल होतो. नातलगांना तो संपत्ती लाटण्यासाठी आलेला भोंदू वाटतो. पुढं कित्येक वर्षं त्याच्यावर खटला चालू राहतो... वगैरे.

पेशवाईच्या काळात पानिपतच्या युद्धानंतर असाच एक तोतया सदाशिवराव भाऊ म्हणून पुण्यात हजर होतो. नाना फडणीसांच्या अक्कलहुशारीनं त्याची लबाडी उघडकीस येते.

सेकंड लेडी ही तशीच एक विलक्षण कथा आहे.

आपण जिच्यासमोर संसार करतो, ती आपली पत्नी प्रत्यक्षात ’दुसरीच’ स्त्री आहे, असं समजलं, तर आपल्याला केवढा जबर धक्का बसेल? पण इतं तर खुद्द अमेरिकेच्या राष्ट्राध्यक्षांना त्या वस्तुस्थितीवर विश्‍वास बसत नाही. त्यांचं कामजीवनही ’नेहमीच्या’च परिचित ’क्रीडां’प्रमाणे यत्किंचितही संशय न येता सुरळीतपणे चालू राहतं...

अशी ही नाजूक; पण गुंतागुंतीची, मती गुंग करणारी कादंबरी...

सेकंड लेडी!

On a state visit to Moscow, Billie Bradford, the beautiful and brilliant wife of the President of the United States, is abducted by the Soviets and replaced by Vera Vazilova, a superbly trained Russian undercover agent and actress who is the First Lady's physical double.

The impostor's mission - to induce the President to reveal a U.S. secret that will drastically tip the world balance toward Russia. But one false move - whether before TV cameras or in the White House bedroom - can destroy the entire masquerade.

And in Moscow, Billie also has a mission - to frantically seek ways to escape while daringly leading a Soviet intelligence officer astray about the most intimate area of her married life.

Two women, each playing a treacherous game in a foreign land, each taking a desperate gamble in the arms of the other's lover--a world-shaking gamble that only one of them can win...

Praise for The Second Lady

"Intense, suspenseful... Every ingredient known to produce a thriller!"- Los Angeles Times "Fast-paced, action-packed, and sex-fired!"- New York Post

A Literary Guild Featured Alternative

Special Bonus - An Excerpt from the novel Desire, by Amy Wallace, is included at the end of the audiobook!

Publisher's note: If you have not discovered the fiction of Irving Wallace, you are in for a treat. Starting with his controversial best-seller The Chapman Report (which was feautured in Stephen King's new thriller, 11/22/63, and continuing on through The Man - a

novel in which a black senator became president in the turbulent 1960s (for which Wallace's family received threats while the movie - featuring James Earl Jones - was in production), as well as The Prize, The Miracle, and many others, Wallace provided fast-paced, intricately researched thrillers on pace with the world around him. Charged with intrigue, sex, and wonderfully complex plots, Wallace sold literally millions of copies of his novels worldwide. It is our pleasure at Crossroad Press to bring them back, one by one, in digital. It has also our privilege to work with Wallace's daughter, Amy, an accomplished author in her own right. Amy passed on unexpectedly and far too young in 2013. We have brought back Amy's critically acclaimed novel Desire - in both digital and audio, as well as her biography of James Sidis - The Prodigy. Just search Irving Wallace, Amy Wallace, or Crossroad Press for our growing catalog of their work.