Scruples (novel)

The novel details the life story of protagonist Wilhelmina Hunnewell Winthrop ("Billy"), as she evolves from the overweight "poor relation" in an aristocratic Boston Brahmin family to become a thin, stylish woman who is left a vast fortune by the death of her much older first husband and who founds an upscale Beverly Hills boutique called "Scruples".

Born the only child of a distinguished scientist, who is a member of the venerable Winthrop family but must work for a living, Wilhelmina is nicknamed "Honey", a diminutive of her middle name.

There, she undergoes a transformation of both body and soul, first changing her name to Billy, then losing weight, and then gaining Parisian style under the guidance of Liliane, the elegant Frenchwoman who is her hostess.

Feeling "not in her skin", and unwilling, at 19, to start college, she moves to New York to attend the Katharine Gibbs secretarial school and prepare to earn a living.

The novel was adapted as a hugely successful television miniseries in 1980, starring Lindsay Wagner as Billy, Barry Bostwick as Spider, Kim Cattrall as Melanie, Marie-France Pisier as Valentine, Connie Stevens as Maggie, and film legend Gene Tierney (in her final role) as Harriet Toppington.

The cast also included Chad Michael Murray as Spider, Karine Vanasse as Valentine, Gary Cole as Royce Franklin, Hart Bochner as Ellis Ikehorn, and Mimi Rogers as Harriet Toppington.