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Pot of Gold
In this sensational new novel, Judith Michael takes one of our most universal fantasies and spins it into glorious, spellbinding reality. Claire Goddard is thirty-four years old, of modest means and looks. She has raised her teenage daughter, Emma, by herself, working as a designer, but without the confidence or means to fully realize her talent. Her only indulgence, once a week, is buying a lottery ticket. Then, one week, she wins sixty million dollars. Overnight everything changes. She quits her job, indulges in the shopping spree of a lifetime - new house, new clothes, new car, new hairstyle and makeup - and then treats herself and Emma to a celebratory cruise in Alaska. There they meet Quentin and Brix Eiger. Handsome, glamorous, a wealthy entrepreneur, Quentin sweeps Claire into his fast-lane fashionable world, while his temperamental son, Brix, engages Emma in her first love affair. Suddenly Claire and Emma are living in the glittering, colorful world of wealth and power. But inside the rainbow, all is not what it seems - Brix persuades Emma to choose a modeling job over college, and has seduced her into his dangerous round of fashion, sex, and drugs. And as Claire discovers a shallowness and predatory drive in Quentin that has been disguised by his manipulative charm, she realizes that his world is in no way superior to hers and that in buying a new life she is losing touch with everything that has always meant the most to her - her daughter, her friends, her work, her sense of home. But Quentin will not let Claire go easily: he and Brix have their own plans for the Goddard women. And when another man, more open and idealistic, more real than Quentin, enters Claire's life, she discovers what she always possessed but never fully recognized - an ability to love deeply and to protect those she loves - strengths and inner resources more valuable than any pot of gold. Judith Michael creates a world as fabulous as a glossy dream, as exciting as a once-in-a-lif
544 pages, Hardcover
First published October 1, 1993
46 people are currently reading
352 people want to read
About the author
Judith Michael
83 books115 followersJudith Michael is the pen name of husband/wife team Judith Barnard (b. 1934) and Michael Fain (b. 1937).
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 49 reviews
June 4, 2019
Emma was an annoying character, she didn't grow at ALL throughout the story. She made it so hard to read.
January 8, 2019
I am big fan of Judith Michael and loved reading this story about winning lots of money. The thing is if you win a lot of money many people that you don't know ask for cash to be given to them. I very highly recommend reading Pot Of Gold, with well developed characters.
October 19, 2022
I loved their first two books but was really disappointed in this one. It was long, boring and predictable.
March 6, 2021
Didn’t care much for this one. Dragged on for too long. There were only 3 chapters that had me interested and the ending was kind of dull.
April 10, 2021
Great entertaining story from start to finish. A single mom wins $60 million dollars in the lottery. Follow along to see how her life is changed along with her daughters. This story is full of great characters that makes the story hold your attention.
February 14, 2019
If you’d like to be brought back to how books were written in the 90’s, Judith Michael is perfect for that. I have nothing against the 90’s, but the book started off annoying when 17 year old daughter, Emma, calls Claire, “Mother.” Mom or even mommy would have been preferred and made the story more believable. Really. Even her friend Gina brings up to Emma later on in the story how she used to call her mother by her first name, but it just reverted to “Mother.”
So Claire, single mom, just making ends meet, buys a lottery ticket and wins 60 million dollars. Typical 90’s with no privacy issues, a stream of reporters and random people come to Claire’s home (they easily found the address...) asking for interviews, money, and even to live with the mom and daughter. Hannah, who says she may be related to Claire, actually comes to live with the family and makes herself right at home. Later, Claire refers to her as her fairy godmother, which she is in a way. She not only helps cook and probably clean, but lends an ear, gives her opinions, and is good company to the mother and daughter, alone for so long. With lack of trust in today’s world, I thought even to the end of the book that something sinister had to be up with Hannah, but no.
The drama starts when Claire, Emma, and Hannah go on an Alaskan cruise. They meet Quentin and Brix Eiger. Quentin owns Eiger Labs, which makes cosmetics. Quentin soon pairs off with Claire. Brix takes Emma. They soon fall in love, or at least Emma does. She is young and inexperienced, and will do anything (drugs) and follow Brix wherever he goes. He calls her when he feels like it, but gets her a dream modeling job in the company, being the Eiger Girl to model the new line of make-up products called PK-20. Claire is not happy that Emma is getting serious with Brix, not going to college, and arguing with her. But Claire is in a relationship with Quentin, so she lets things go.
One day when Brix is not in his office and Emma goes in to wait for him, she finds memos on his desk about PK-20 and reads them. An eye cream that was tested had some bad results in people, one being becoming blind in one eye. When Emma asks Brix about this, he tells her there will be more tests, which is a lie. Emma then confides to Gina, her mom’s friend, who is a lab technician. Emma finds the original memos which had been changed to only mention good test results. Gina goes to the state attorney with them when she realizes nothing is going to be done to postpone the release date of the products. Emma tries to warn Brix about what’s going on, but he gets angry that she told someone about the original memos with the bad test results when he told her not to. He takes her out to dinner, where he puts drugs in her drink that will make her go to sleep. He wanted her to go back to her hotel room where it would look like she overdosed and killed herself. Fortunately, her mother and new boyfriend (Alex...she ended it with overpowering & controlling Quentin) find out what hotel she is in, find Emma, and are able to call an ambulance to take her to the hospital where she recovers. Meanwhile, Brix is questioned and arrested. He’s in jail with no bail. His father ignored the call from the state attorney but two of the board of trustees of Eiger Labs come to his home, telling him he no longer could work for the company.
Hannah will no longer live with Claire and Emma. She has made a new friend from the cruise as well and will be helping him in a poetry center he is creating.
Emma will go to college, and will soon forget her dead beat boyfriend and modeling career. And a surprising twist to a book from the 90’s...Claire’s friend Gina realizes she’s in love with newly divorced from her husband, Roz. They live happily ever after on a secluded horse ranch.
So Claire, single mom, just making ends meet, buys a lottery ticket and wins 60 million dollars. Typical 90’s with no privacy issues, a stream of reporters and random people come to Claire’s home (they easily found the address...) asking for interviews, money, and even to live with the mom and daughter. Hannah, who says she may be related to Claire, actually comes to live with the family and makes herself right at home. Later, Claire refers to her as her fairy godmother, which she is in a way. She not only helps cook and probably clean, but lends an ear, gives her opinions, and is good company to the mother and daughter, alone for so long. With lack of trust in today’s world, I thought even to the end of the book that something sinister had to be up with Hannah, but no.
The drama starts when Claire, Emma, and Hannah go on an Alaskan cruise. They meet Quentin and Brix Eiger. Quentin owns Eiger Labs, which makes cosmetics. Quentin soon pairs off with Claire. Brix takes Emma. They soon fall in love, or at least Emma does. She is young and inexperienced, and will do anything (drugs) and follow Brix wherever he goes. He calls her when he feels like it, but gets her a dream modeling job in the company, being the Eiger Girl to model the new line of make-up products called PK-20. Claire is not happy that Emma is getting serious with Brix, not going to college, and arguing with her. But Claire is in a relationship with Quentin, so she lets things go.
One day when Brix is not in his office and Emma goes in to wait for him, she finds memos on his desk about PK-20 and reads them. An eye cream that was tested had some bad results in people, one being becoming blind in one eye. When Emma asks Brix about this, he tells her there will be more tests, which is a lie. Emma then confides to Gina, her mom’s friend, who is a lab technician. Emma finds the original memos which had been changed to only mention good test results. Gina goes to the state attorney with them when she realizes nothing is going to be done to postpone the release date of the products. Emma tries to warn Brix about what’s going on, but he gets angry that she told someone about the original memos with the bad test results when he told her not to. He takes her out to dinner, where he puts drugs in her drink that will make her go to sleep. He wanted her to go back to her hotel room where it would look like she overdosed and killed herself. Fortunately, her mother and new boyfriend (Alex...she ended it with overpowering & controlling Quentin) find out what hotel she is in, find Emma, and are able to call an ambulance to take her to the hospital where she recovers. Meanwhile, Brix is questioned and arrested. He’s in jail with no bail. His father ignored the call from the state attorney but two of the board of trustees of Eiger Labs come to his home, telling him he no longer could work for the company.
Hannah will no longer live with Claire and Emma. She has made a new friend from the cruise as well and will be helping him in a poetry center he is creating.
Emma will go to college, and will soon forget her dead beat boyfriend and modeling career. And a surprising twist to a book from the 90’s...Claire’s friend Gina realizes she’s in love with newly divorced from her husband, Roz. They live happily ever after on a secluded horse ranch.
November 27, 2016
I have previously read four other books by Judith Michael and loved each one of them, so I have been waiting to return to their books for a while.
Initially this book drove me mad, I found that I didn’t like the main characters too much and their choices were predictable and annoying.
For quite a while after Claire wins the lottery all the book does is describe what she is spends huge amounts of money on. This included entirely new wardrobes for herself and Emma, a new car each and a new house. Her lavish spending drove me mad. I can understand that they would want to spend some of it to improve their lives as they had very little money and lived in a dim little flat. However, you would think that coming from this background they would have more of an appreciation for money and not spend it so frivolously.
I was shocked when they
I was waiting for Claire and Emma to meet the Eiger’s.
I liked Gina’s character and the fact that Emma felt that she could confide in her when she couldn’t talk to her Mum. I was not surprised that
The different language used for Claire’s relationship and her relationship with Alex made it immediately clear how different the two were and how they treated her differently. The ending was very satisfactory
This book was brilliant but it loses one star due to its annoying start.
Initially this book drove me mad, I found that I didn’t like the main characters too much and their choices were predictable and annoying.
For quite a while after Claire wins the lottery all the book does is describe what she is spends huge amounts of money on. This included entirely new wardrobes for herself and Emma, a new car each and a new house. Her lavish spending drove me mad. I can understand that they would want to spend some of it to improve their lives as they had very little money and lived in a dim little flat. However, you would think that coming from this background they would have more of an appreciation for money and not spend it so frivolously.
I was shocked when they
I was waiting for Claire and Emma to meet the Eiger’s.
I liked Gina’s character and the fact that Emma felt that she could confide in her when she couldn’t talk to her Mum. I was not surprised that
The different language used for Claire’s relationship and her relationship with Alex made it immediately clear how different the two were and how they treated her differently. The ending was very satisfactory
This book was brilliant but it loses one star due to its annoying start.
September 13, 2020
Very satisfying. Money isn't everything yet it changes something in you. I don't know why there are those people with greed of money and power that they want to control the people around them. I feel sad for them. Even if they have all, it is still incomplete. There isn't no bond with the family. I'm so happy Alex came, my mood started to lighten up. I love the way his son is going on well with Claire's daughter.
October 17, 2022
DNF. Enjoyed it but as soon as I got to the first sex scene, I was uncomfortable. (and no, this has nothing to do with my age, I can handle spice in a book).
Will give this another try some time in the future.
Tried to read: 10/8/2022 - 17/10/2022
14-15 Years Old
Will give this another try some time in the future.
Tried to read: 10/8/2022 - 17/10/2022
14-15 Years Old
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 8, 2025
Honestly not sure why I finished this. It started off as a feel good rags-to-riches story and ended up feeling like the author got bored.
Wouldn't recommend unless you were a massive fan of the author and had to read every book.
Wouldn't recommend unless you were a massive fan of the author and had to read every book.
October 14, 2025
An interesting read about a Mother and daughter that won the lottery. They came from a hard life where there was never enough money even for the basics. This is about how they used their money and how it changed them, and then showed that they still kept their values.
July 22, 2018
An easy quick read, interesting and good ending.
September 12, 2019
How does a book that is written with little imagination and a predictable plot hold my attention like this one did? I guess I still had to find out the details. It was OK for a light read.
May 16, 2020
Oh boy, glad that’s done.
June 8, 2020
Loved this read
March 9, 2021
This story was a fun read about a way new money could influence a person's life.
June 20, 2021
What a great book
February 10, 2023
Enjoyable read. 3.5 stars
October 10, 2023
Pretty good drug on a little bit in the end.
January 1, 2024
Be careful what you wish for! Very engaging read.
December 15, 2024
Too many typing errors
I purchased the kindle edition. There are countless typing errors in the text. This book wasn't worth the price I paid considering the sloppy editing.
I purchased the kindle edition. There are countless typing errors in the text. This book wasn't worth the price I paid considering the sloppy editing.
March 29, 2025
Phenomenal!!! Loved this!!!
June 23, 2025
Really struggled to finish this book.
July 8, 2013
Claire Goddard- a very poor single mother, wins the lottery of sixty million dollars. She quits her job and takes her daughter Emma on a shopping spree and an Alaskan cruise. On the cruise they meet Quentin and Brix Eiger, two worldly men whose lives are intermingled with sex, drugs and money. As Emma falls more in love with Brix, Claire realizes how she was being manipulated by Quentin, she gives the relationship up to try to save Emma. What Claire and Emma learn is there are some things in life that money just cannot buy. Love and Life.
Noteworthy moments and quotes:
"The point is, we do get over terrible times; we're built to do that. Most people learn again to laugh and love and respond to beauty and fight ugliness and clasp hands with friends, even though they've lost a kind of joy that they'll never get back. There's an unlit corner in their hearts and no light will ever penetrate to it. It will always be dark. That's why it's so important to be close to those we love, not to take them for granted, it can be to understand and be understood by another person. And that's why you should open up to people; not just ask questions like a journalist but share your feelings with them because that's what makes us close and loving and human.If you don't, you may wake up one day and find your chances for love and closeness gone, and that's another kind of death. Tragedy is no excuse you know. However long it takes, we do recover."
Noteworthy moments and quotes:
"The point is, we do get over terrible times; we're built to do that. Most people learn again to laugh and love and respond to beauty and fight ugliness and clasp hands with friends, even though they've lost a kind of joy that they'll never get back. There's an unlit corner in their hearts and no light will ever penetrate to it. It will always be dark. That's why it's so important to be close to those we love, not to take them for granted, it can be to understand and be understood by another person. And that's why you should open up to people; not just ask questions like a journalist but share your feelings with them because that's what makes us close and loving and human.If you don't, you may wake up one day and find your chances for love and closeness gone, and that's another kind of death. Tragedy is no excuse you know. However long it takes, we do recover."
December 6, 2012
Winning $60 million in the lottery could be the ultimate American dream. And Claire spends it fast and furious like most lottery winners, which is fine except she never really seemed to grasp the absurdity of her decisions. One her first decisions was letting a homeless woman con her way into her home and life. And when given the option of going anywhere in the world, money is obviously not an issue, she chooses an Alaskan cruise. Nothing against Alaska, I’d like to take a cruise there someday myself, but given the extravagance of her monetary spending it was a very odd choice.
I found it a little boring. I must confess if I had accidentally left this on the plane with a few hundred pages left I wouldn’t have been upset. I did not connect with any of the characters. Claire was nice enough, but lacked wit or a sharp intelligence. And the point of view changed often with no notice or obvious reason. I really wanted to like it more, but I didn’t. But I wouldn’t mind winning $60 million in the lottery. Even though I’ve never purchased a lottery ticket.
I found it a little boring. I must confess if I had accidentally left this on the plane with a few hundred pages left I wouldn’t have been upset. I did not connect with any of the characters. Claire was nice enough, but lacked wit or a sharp intelligence. And the point of view changed often with no notice or obvious reason. I really wanted to like it more, but I didn’t. But I wouldn’t mind winning $60 million in the lottery. Even though I’ve never purchased a lottery ticket.
September 21, 2013
This is an interesting story of how your life can change after winning the lottery. Single mother Claire hits the jackpot on the same day her daughter graduates from high school, and the book follows them through the next several months as they get used to the new found wealth and take a look at what is really important in life. At the beginning, I thought it was a bit stiff and predictable, but as the book went along and you got to see more of the relationships developing, it got more interesting. Finally, there was a twist with the daughter in the last 50 pages or so, and I couldn't put it down once I got into that part. A pretty interesting read if you're not looking for something too serious.
December 15, 2011
Details at my blog
Claire's biggest problem isn't managing her lottery winnings, but dealing with rich parasites who want to prey on her and lure in her gorgeous, underage daughter with fame, fashion and drugs.
The protagonist is a 34-year-old introvert who isn’t particularly stunning or take-charge, but deals with the dramatic changes in her life anyway. I liked that a lot. These days, books claiming to be about introverts almost always turn out to be about extroverts having a couple of quiet days.
Claire's biggest problem isn't managing her lottery winnings, but dealing with rich parasites who want to prey on her and lure in her gorgeous, underage daughter with fame, fashion and drugs.
The protagonist is a 34-year-old introvert who isn’t particularly stunning or take-charge, but deals with the dramatic changes in her life anyway. I liked that a lot. These days, books claiming to be about introverts almost always turn out to be about extroverts having a couple of quiet days.
November 26, 2008
Yeah, I know this book is beneath me. But hey ... it was in the house, I needed something to read. My grandmother read jillions of these paperback romances, and a bunch of them came home with me. I couldn't help myself.
August 11, 2011
If you want a nice easy comfort book, read this one. Very fun and simple entertainment. Does having money, lots of money, make life better or worse? Does it complicate an ordinary life? How would you change?
June 8, 2012
This is an interesting novel that begins with good news and ends in a happy note, though in the middle there are enough terrible and pleasant events. The effects of sudden inflow of money through lottery have been dealt with in a realistic manner.
Good pastime reading material.
Good pastime reading material.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 49 reviews