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"Splitting Heirs" is a mash-up of Puccini’s comic one-act opera, "Gianni Schicchi" and a story about people on a quest like in either "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" or the movie "It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World." After writing the first two chapters, I had to put it aside at the beginning of November when my day job as a harpist went into overdrive.
Two weeks later, I lost my father. The world stopped, or at least it should have. But while I mourned, life continued. Before long, I had to jump back into the insane schedule of being a harpist during the holiday season. Being busy, instead of distracting me, left me desperate to do anything to ease the grief.
I’ve never found the time to write in December, yet as soon as I found tiny moments to write, the words flowed, healing me. I finished writing "Splitting Heirs" in mid-January. My editor sent me her notes at the end of March 2020, another moment when I again felt like I had lost my funny.
This novel sprang to life during a personal crisis and entered the public phase of its life during a worldwide crisis. One thing I’ve always understood as a harpist is that the arts heal us. Nothing would make me happier than to know that "Splitting Heirs," which is something of a love letter to New York City, can make any difficulties you may be facing a little easier to bear.
Reviewed by Anne-Marie Reynolds for Readers' Favorite
In Splitting Heirs by Diane Michaels, Lauren survives by earning a commission on property sales, and, in her dreams, she is incredibly successful. In reality, she has little money left and just one property to sell – which she just set fire too, accidentally of course. Lauren is set to inherit a small part of an estate left by her great-aunt, an eccentric woman, but Lauren is about to find out that getting her hands on the desperately needed cash won't be easy. First, she has to complete a set of tasks to earn the money and she’s pitted against her family. If that weren’t bad enough, the very last person she wanted to see turns up – Johnny. Pushed to the limit, Lauren is beginning to realize that the inheritance may not be what she thought and that she could have been very wrong about two things – Johnny and the life she thought she dreamed of.
Splitting Heirs by Diane Michaels is a funny but, in places, bittersweet story about life. It's really well-written, pulling you into the story right from the start and taking you on a journey of ups and downs, of fun and heartbreak; a story of decisions and choices. The characters are amazing, real people that you can really relate to and identify with in a fast-paced story with a few twists and turns to keep you on your toes. We all have dreams of what we want in life but few of us achieve them; Diane has written a story that anyone of us could be living right now, a real-life story with real-life issues. Great story, I really enjoyed reading it.
