Winning the Lottery

About the Book

Bill’s only dream is to move out of his cramped apartment into a spacious house with bookshelves on every wall. As he heads down Greenwich Avenue to check his lottery ticket he meets Sarah, holding a microphone in front of him. He shows her his ticket, and promises her an exclusive if he wins. He does, and their romance flourishes quickly, based not on the money but on their shared values. They set up a foundation to give the money away. Sarah’s father, who seems to have connections everywhere, grooms Bill for a top diplomatic post. On their honeymoon in London, they meet and become friends with their mutual cousin Prince William. Sarah so impresses the British establishment that a co-ambassadorship is offered. The couple make enormous strides in breaking down barriers, to the point where they incur a death threat from Osama bin Laden. Sarah, by now pregnant, reaches out to him via television, asking him to become godfather to her child. Moved by her eloquence and her offer to bridge the gap between Muslims and the West, he accepts and lifts the death threat. The Nobel Peace Prize is mentioned. Not a bad payout for a buck, Bill muses, looking at the framed lottery ticket over the mantel.

About the Author

William J. Clark was educated in the United States, England, and Switzerland, and holds degrees in literature from Harvard College and Yale University. He has taught in the English Departments at Yale and Mount Holyoke College. He has written several books of poetry, a non-fiction book on Bermuda, and a number of books on Greenwich, Connecticut. This is his first novel. He lives in Greenwich with piles of books and not enough shelves; he is presently at work on the next novel of the Clark-King series, Sarah’s Story.