10/20/2014
If Tomorrow Comes - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
If Tomorrow Comes
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
If Tomorrow Comes is a 1985 crime fiction novel by
American author Sidney Sheldon. It is a story portraying
an ordinary woman who is framed by the Mafia, her
subsequent quest for vengeance towards them and her
later life as a con artist. A 3-part TV miniseries with the
same name based on the book was released in 1986.
If Tomorrow Comes
Plot
Tracy Whitney, an intelligent operator for a prominent
bank in Philadelphia, is at the peak of her young life: she
is engaged to Charles Stanhope III, a wealthy heir from a
prominent family, she is carrying Charles' baby, and she
is expecting a promotion after her honeymoon. However,
after she hears that her mother, Doris Whitney, has
Author
Sidney Sheldon
committed suicide after Joe Romano, the right-hand man
Country
United States
of New Orlean's Mafia Don Anthony Orsatti, scammed
Doris into letting him sell all of her assets in her small
Language
English
auto-parts company and left her with a huge debt and
Genre
Crime fiction
charges of fraud, Tracy hastily returns to New Orleans to
Publisher
Warner Books
try coercing Romano into confessing her mother's
innocence. She brings a gun with only the intention to
Publication date
1985
scare him, but things get out hand and she non-fatally
Media type
Print
shoots him when he tries to rape her, and she attempts to
flee back to Philadelphia. However, she is arrested for
Pages
416
attempted murder and allegedly stealing one of Romano's ISBN
0-446-35742-1
expensive paintings so she can pay her mother's debt. She
Preceded by
Master of the Game
is given an attorney named Perry Pope, who convinces
her to take the guilty plea so that she will only receive a
Followed by
Windmills of the Gods
three-month sentence because if she doesn't, she will face
a long trial with Judge Lawrence and risk ten years in jail if she is found guilty. She takes the guilty plea,
and after Judge Lawrence sentences her to fifteen years in jail, Tracy realizes that Judge Lawrence and Pope
work for Orsatti as well. Romano claims a large sum from the insurance from the painting, which he
actually kept hidden, Tracy is snubbed by her boss, and Charles breaks up with her to avoid being
connected to the scandal, abandoning her and his unborn child.
In prison, Tracy is assigned to a cell with two Mexicans, Lola and Paulita, and a large black woman named
Ernestine Littlechap. She is subjected to the horrors of physical and sexual abuse from the other inmates,
and miscarries her baby. During her recovery, she vows revenge against Romano, Orsatti, Pope, and Judge
Lawrence for harming her and her mother, as well as Charles for abandoning her and his son and marrying
another woman. She befriends Ernestine, who notices the change in her personality and makes everyone
stop abusing her. Because of Tracy's status as Ernestine's pet, she gains the unwanted attention of Big
Bertha, an equally large Swedish inmate and Ernestine's rival as "queen bee". Tracy gets a visit from Daniel
Cooper, an eccentric private investigator assigned to look for Romano's painting, and admits that he knows
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If Tomorrow Comes - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
she did not steal the photo and Romano is hiding it, but he refuses to help her. Tracy eventually becomes
the warden's daughter's nanny, and although hesitant to love a child after the death of her own, Tracy slowly
begins to love Amy. Ernestine is informed of her upcoming parole, and decides to help Tracy escape
knowing that Big Bertha will rape and kill Tracy once Ernestine is no longer there to protect her. Tracy
follows the plan, but Amy falls into a nearby lake and she misses her chance to escape to save Amy. Tracy
is recognized for her good work and, being a behaved prisoner, she is granted an early parole. Her highprofile exit from prison is watched by many: Cooper is indifferent, Romano is aroused, while Charles looks
at his wife and wonders if he made a mistake.
Tracy exacts revenge on all those who tricked her, and gets the help of Ernestine and her boyfriend Al. She
uses her knowledge of her former bank to make Romano's bank account receive deposits from other people,
and then make it look like he secretly made a large amount of money and was planning to escape to Brazil,
and it is implied Orsatti kills him for his betrayal. Al plants evidence in Pope's home to make it look like he
is cheating in poker games with Orsatti, and Orsatti kills him as well. While Judge Lawrence is in Russia,
she sends him carefully coded letters that implicates him as an American spy, and is sentenced to ten years
of hard labor. With the three gone from Orsatti's Mafia, a younger, ruthless mob is trying to force him to
leave New Orleans, and Tracy boldly sends him a funeral wreath. She stalks Charles into a restaurant, but
decides that his marriage is his own punishment when she sees how he and his wife ignore each other and
look obviously bored and depressed.
With her mission of revenge complete, Tracy begins to face the hardships of having a criminal record. It is
revealed that her boss was only kind to her because of her connection to the Stanhopes, and refuses to take
her back. Tracy leaves for New York for a job opportunity one of the inmates told her about. She finds out
that the job is a jewel heist and she reluctantly agrees out of desperation. She narrowly escapes the police
but successfully steals the jewels. In the train, she is conned by Jeff Stevens, who pretended to be a
policeman, but she realizes that Jeff couldn't be a policeman and that the store owner was making Jeff steal
it from her so he can buy them cheaper, and she cons Jeff into giving them back with a real policeman in
their presence. She meets Jeff once more in a cruise ship to England, and they scheme against two chess
grand masters to win money; Jeff tries to leave with all the money, but she catches him and leaves with her
half.
Tracy is introduced to Gunther Hartog, who helps her steal only from those who deserve to be stolen from,
and she becomes one of the world's smartest criminals as all the evidence is there, pointed out by Cooper,
who decides to help the police catch her, but there is never enough evidence to arrest her. Tracy pursues
brilliant con schemes filled with humor and ingenuity all over Europe such as stealing jewelry from an
actress on the Orient Express, a valuable painting from a museum, reselling a gem to a jeweler for much
higher than its worth, and tricking a Frenchman with fake US Dollar plates. During a heist, Tracy has a
fever and nearly gets caught if Jeff did not rescue her and nurture her back to help, and the two begin to fall
in love. After having collected enough money to live a luxurious life, Tracy and Jeff plan to marry and live
together in Brazil as law-abiding citizens. In their last scheme, Cooper convinces the police to plant
microphones in their hotel room, but the two outsmart them all and manage to steal a large diamond without
getting caught. Tracy boards her flight to Brazil and finds Maximilian Pierpont, the elusive, ruthless
businessman Jeff and Gunther had been trying to catch, sitting next to her. Maximilian shows an interest to
Tracy, leaving the reader to wonder if she will steal from Pierpont in an open-ended conclusion.
Preceded by
Master of the Game
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/If_Tomorrow_Comes
Sidney Sheldon Novels
1985
Succeeded by
Windmills of the Gods
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10/20/2014
If Tomorrow Comes - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Categories: 1985 novels Novels by Sidney Sheldon
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