And finally, the heirs to the empire-Lane, Max, Gin and Edward-each have a story to tell. Virginia Bradford, the dynasty’s matron, spends her days in a drug-induced haze. There’s the head of family, the depraved William Baldwine, whose malice and apparent greed drive a violent fracture through the family. In Ward’s typical style, we experience multiple point-of-views, uncovering the characters’ tortuous and duplicitous lives. With a household staff of seventy two, every luxury is theirs to enjoy, every whim is theirs to be satisfied.īut behind closed doors, dirty, dangerous secrets lurk as money, sex and power dominate. For generations, the Bradfords have not only dominated the industry, they’ve also relished a life of privilege, prestige and power, while living at their lavish estate, Easterly. In this sweeping, soap opera like drama, Ward introduces us to the Bradford family… the kings of bourbon.

This is the backdrop of the fantastically captivating and vividly depicted world imagined by USA Today and New York Times bestselling author JR Ward in her latest novel, The Bourbon Kings. Southern opulence, closeted scandals, feuding families, dysfunctional romance, and a bourbon empire on the cusp of collapse. No one will be left unmarked: not Tulane’s beautiful and ruthless wife not his older brother, whose bitterness and bad blood know no bounds and especially not the ironfisted Bradford patriarch, a man with few morals, fewer scruples, and many, many terrible secrets.Īs family tensions-professional and intimately private-ignite, Easterly and all its inhabitants are thrown into the grips of an irrevocable transformation, and only the cunning will survive. Now, after two years of staying away, Tulane is finally coming home again, and he is bringing the past with him.

Falling in love with Tulane, the prodigal son of the bourbon dynasty, was nothing that she intended or wanted-and their bitter breakup only served to prove her instincts were right. And never the twain shall meet.įor Lizzie King, Easterly’s head gardener, crossing that divide nearly ruined her life. Downstairs, the staff who work tirelessly to maintain the impeccable Bradford facade. Upstairs, a dynasty that by all appearances plays by the rules of good fortune and good taste. Their sustained wealth has afforded them prestige and privilege-as well as a hard-won division of class on their sprawling estate, Easterly.

The #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Black Dagger Brotherhood delivers the first novel in an enthralling new series set amid the shifting dynamics of a Southern family defined by wealth and privilege-and compromised by secrets, deceit, and scandal….įor generations, the Bradford family has worn the mantle of kings of the bourbon capital of the world.

The bourbon kings by jr ward