Both Sides Now (ePub)

Emma is the daughter of a prostitute, and she probably would be lost in that world if Bill Dalton, a policeman, and his wife, Joyce, didn't adopt her and give her a loving family. There is only one problem with the adoption; Bill has to frame her mother for murder and send her away to prison.
Joyce Dalton dies of cancer when Emma is young. Medical Bills force she and Bill to live a hand-to-mouth existence. As Emma approaches high school graduation, he realizes that public records connecting her to her past could end any chance of her becoming the doctor that she hopes to become.
Using his position as Deputy Chief of Police, Dalton destroys all public records about Emma's past, and when he is found out, he is fired from the police force, leaving him with no pay, no retirement, and no medical coverage. He can't even find a job with his reputation, but he's too ashamed to tell Emma the cause of their even more meager life.
Emma, a teenager, doesn't understand why they are so poor. They have many arguments about money, and by the time, Emma enters collage on an academy scholarship, she and her dad are hardly speaking. She hates her clothes and everything about her life.
Jill, Emma's college roommate, is a member of the ultra-rich Hamptons crowd, and she seduces Emma into thinking that the only important thing in life is money and getting more of it. Emma is ready to believe it. She switches her major from medicine to law, so she can be more like Jill, and one day become rich.
After law school, Emma becomes a very successful and highly paid attorney representing those who ignore the law or skirt it to their own advantage. She is on the path that will allow her to become a member of Jill's world.
With her mind clouded by dreams of the world that Jill represents, fate steps in. She loses everything and must learn what is truly important.