Megan

Leave it to Megan Abbott to tap into the American zeitgeist and play on her readers’ fears like a conductor leading a doomsday orchestra. As high school and college graduates across the country celebrate the completion of a major milestone, they — and their nervous parents — are looking ahead to a future marked by political uncertainty and economic insecurity.

In an eerie echo, Abbott begins “El Dorado Drive,” her 11th novel, with a graduation party at the beginning of the Great Recession. Though the party is not a lavish affair — just a gathering for friends and family in the backyard of a rental property on El Dorado Drive in Grosse Pointe, Mich. — it’s more than Pam Bishop can afford, and every one of her guests knows it.

Any party, no matter how modest, reminds Pam and her two older sisters, Debra and Harper, of all that they’ve lost. Born into a world of wealth and privilege thanks to Detroit’s automotive-fueled postwar prosperity, the Bishop sisters — along with their parents, their peers and their children — watched it all disappear during the decline of the American automobile industry.

Pam’s ramshackle rental on El Dorado Drive, though several steps down from the home she grew up in or the mansion she moved into when she got married, is a symbol of the reckless pursuit of wealth that destroys those who can’t see through the illusion.

“When you grow up in comfort and it all falls away — and your parents with it — money isn’t about money,” Abbott writes. “It’s about security, freedom, independence, a promise of wholeness. All those fantasies, illusions. Money was rarely about money.”

For Pam’s ex-husband, Doug Sullivan, money is a game to be played in order to get what he wants, and he will stop at nothing to get it. But when Pam is brutally murdered in the opening pages, he emerges as a prime suspect. The first half of the novel backtracks from the discovery of Pam’s body to the graduation party nine months prior, when each Bishop sister is struggling with serious financial hardship.

Locked in an acrimonious divorce with no end in sight, Pam doesn’t know how she’s going to pay her son’s college tuition or handle her rebellious teenage daughter alone. The oldest sister, Debra, is buried under a mountain of medical bills while her husband suffers through another round of chemotherapy and her son slips away in a cloud of marijuana smoke. Harper, the middle child, struggles to make ends meet while rebounding from a relationship that ended in heartbreak.

The solution to their money problems arrives in the form of a secret investment club called the Wheel. Run for and by women who have fallen on hard times, the program is simple but sketchy. It costs $5,000 to join, but once the new members recruit five new participants, they are “gifted” five times their initial buy-in.

If this sounds too good to be true, you have more sense than the Bishop sisters. Such is their desperation they don’t quite allow themselves to see this is a fairly basic pyramid scheme that depends on fresh blood — and their bank accounts — to keep the Wheel turning.

The novel follows Harper, the outsider in the family, due to the fact that she’s never married nor had children. She’s not part of the community, either, because she’s recently returned to Grosse Pointe after time away to mend her broken heart. The first half of the novel concerns the Bishops’ dynamics and their found family in the Wheel, which operates like a combination of a cult and a recovery group for women who’ve lost everything.

At a moment of vulnerability, Harper is buttonholed by an old classmate named Sue. “It’s called the Wheel because it never stops moving,” Sue said. Twice a month, we meet. A different member hosts each time, and the meetings were just parties, really. And at these parties, they took turns giving and receiving gifts to one another. To lift one another up. As women should, as they must.”

Behind the rhetoric of sisterhood lurks avarice and greed. When Harper asks Pam if anyone ever left the group after just one turn of the Wheel, Pam — a true believer — can’t fathom backing out of the group. “Why would anyone do that?” she asks.

The answer proves to be her undoing, and the second half of “El Dorado Drive” follows Harper as she tries to solve her sister’s murder. It’s a classic whodunit story with Harper — who has plenty of secrets of her own — playing the role of the reluctant detective.

Despite the book’s suggestive title, the landscape is anything but illusory for Abbott, who grew up in Grosse Pointe and spent the first 18 years of her life there. Evoking a rich setting has never been a weakness of Abbott’s stories. Her novels have a hyperreal quality and are often populated by characters churning with desires they cannot manage.

Abbott is especially adept at rendering the hot, messy inner lives of young people and at making a book’s backstory as suspenseful as the narrative engine that drives the plot. In “El Dorado Drive,” however, the focus is on adults, and the past mostly stays in the past. The result is a novel in which the story is straightforward and the stakes are low. Nevertheless, true to her penchant for shocking violence, Abbott delivers a revolting revelation that sets up a series of twists that propels the story to its inevitable, but no less satisfying, conclusion.

But then there’s the matter of the Wheel. When we watch a video of people in a boat who are drinking, carrying on and disobeying the rules of the road, we don’t feel badly for them when they end up in the water, no matter how spectacular the crash, because they brought it on themselves.

The same logic applies to the participants in the Wheel. We can empathize with the calamities that prompted these characters to take such foolish chances, but we would never make those choices ourselves.

Or would we?

One could argue that our era will be defined not by whether the American dream lives or dies but by the questionable choices of our political leaders and, by extension, the people who elected them. We may not know where we’ll be tomorrow, but Abbott knows wagering that the wheel of grift, greed and corruption will keep on turning is always a safe bet.

Ruland is the author of the novel “Make It Stop” and the weekly Substack Message from the Underworld.

MEGAN McKenna and Oliver Burke looked loved-up in pics from their joint stag and hen party ahead of their upcoming wedding.

The former Towie star and country singer, 32, and her footballer fiancée Oliver, 27, decided to have joint celebrations. 

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Sharing an update to her Instagram fans, Megan wore a gorgeous white shirt dress, alongside a veil and a bride-to-be sash. 

Oliver wore a black top with a pair of white trousers and both of them held glasses of what looked like sparkling bubbly.

In another snap, Oliver lovingly held her in his arms as he twirled her in front of a swimming pool.

She captioned the post: “It’s nearly time, also my family are to cute, thanks guys I love you.

“Me & Oli came downstairs for the evening to ‘chapel of love’ playing… video will be posted soon.”

Fans were quick to leave comments supporting the couple and one said: “The most beautiful bride to be.”

“So cute,” said another.

And a third said: “Stop it sooo cute so excited for the wedding pictures seeing your dress and little Landons suit.”

While a fourth added: “I hope we get to see u in ur wedding dress, I bet u will look beautiful!.”

Earlier in the year, Megan teased details about the couple’s wedding as she went for a wedding dress fitting after spending three weeks apart from Oliver.

Megan captioned the Instagram post: “Hadn’t seen Oli in 3 weeks, this is how our day went… don’t worry guys Oli hasn’t seen my wedding dresses.

“They are in Italy atm being made! Eeek. I had to pop in to get my measurements taken again as my baby weight is dropping off me!!!! Not long now.”

Her latest update comes after Megan was left heartbroken after a devastating loss to her family. 

The star shared that her beloved dog, who she referred to as her “first baby” has died, after 17 years as her trusty sidekick. 

Sharing a slideshow of photographs of her beloved pooch, she wrote: “I’ve been putting this post off for a few weeks because it becomes real when I do. But I lost my first baby Daisy and it hit me so hard. 

“She passed away with me holding her in my arms. My sister and mum next to me. I sang her to sleep like I always did when she needed comforting.” 

“It breaks my heart even typing this out,” Megan said. “Daisy, Thankyou for being by my side through every tear, every laugh and every milestone from my teenage years into my 20’s and even 30’s. 

“Thankyou for teaching me how to be a mummy. I’m a pro with Landon because of you, your little dinners, bath time, walkies and cuddles. 

“You was the best Daisy. You was my baby. You will always be in my heart. I will miss you forever.” 

Loved ones and followers quickly flocked to her comments section to pay tribute and share their condolences to Megan after her heartbreak. 

MAFS star Ella Morgan said: “I’m so sorry Meg. Sending you all my love, thoughts and hugs in what I can only imagine is an incredibly emotionally tough time for you all” 

“I miss her so much. She’ll be loved forever,” added her sister Milly. 

Friend Lauren added: “She really was the best, what an amazing mummy you were to her! Love you so much I know how hard this has hit you. But she’ll always be with you xx” 

Her fiancé Oliver also shared his condolences, posting two love hearts. 

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The Bruin Bombers. The Bash Brothers. The Splash Brothers.

Jordan Woolery and Megan Grant are open to any nicknames that reflect their standing as college softball’s most formidable hitting duo.

“Whatever anyone wants to call us,” Woolery said, “we don’t even care.”

Any credible nickname must recognize their staggering power. Bonus points are available for a reference to their native Bay Area. What’s not negotiable is the conveying of their connection, both as the best of friends and their proximity in UCLA’s batting order.

Woolery hits third, followed by Grant in the cleanup spot. It has been that way in every lineup card this season except for the three games in which Grant was either limited to pinch-hitting duties or sidelined because of a minor hamstring injury.

The payoff of pairing them together has been historic, a combination as proven as peanut butter and jelly or Simon and Garfunkel.

The junior sluggers have combined for more home runs (47) and runs batted in (161) than any other pair of hitters in the nation, vaulting the ninth-seeded Bruins (52-10) into the Columbia Super Regional to face eighth-seeded South Carolina (43-15). The best-of-three series starts at 10 a.m. PDT Friday in Columbia, S.C., the opener televised by ESPN2.

“The numbers that they’re putting up,” UCLA coach Kelly Inouye-Perez said of what might go down as the best hitting combo in school history, “are exciting and loud. These two are doing things that you just don’t see.”

Their spots in the order always start with the same ritual — a bat tap, accompanied by Woolery saying, “I got you.” Grant often returns the favor, especially when her teammate gets on base.

Early this season, after Arizona walked Woolery on four pitches, Grant smashed a three-run home run, providing the Wildcats extra reminders about why that was a bad idea.

“What I did was chest-bump Jordan about 50 times when we hit home plate together,” Grant said. “It was just the hypest moment, honestly.”

Woolery and Grant can often be found together in the dugout, on team planes or at Lamonica’s NY Pizza, their go-to stress relief spot in Westwood Village. They’re not roommates but might as well be; they invariably reside in one of their rooms long before the first pitch when Woolery braids Grant’s hair while watching “Catfish,” a favorite television show.

When a reporter inquired about their palpable bond, Grant cracked, “You can feel the aura?”

Both players immediately cracked up.

Separating the inseparable pair is a no-no. The last time it happened, amid a rare slump late last season, Inouye-Perez made the mistake of not putting them back to back in the batting order. They went a combined two for eight and made sure their coach knew about it the next day.

“It’s just the vibe was off, for sure,” Grant said, “so we had to talk to ‘Coach I’ about it.”

The Bruins’ Jordan Woolery has 22 home runs, 82 RBIs and a .423 batting average this season.

(Kyusung Gong / Associated Press)

Said Woolery: “Since then, we haven’t left each other’s side.”

Why would they?

Woolery and Grant’s RBI total is the highest by any duo in school history, surpassing the 158 RBIs that Stacey Nuveman and Julie Marshall tallied on the way to helping the Bruins win the 1999 NCAA championship.

When informed of the feat, after they had combined for 13 RBIs last weekend during the Bruins’ record-setting regional romp while outscoring three opponents by a combined 31-2, Grant placed her hand over her mouth in disbelief. Catcher Alexis Ramirez, seated next to Grant and Woolery in the interview room, patted Grant on the shoulder.

“Oh my God,” Ramirez said, offering another nickname, “Smash Brothers.”

Grant then threw an arm around Woolery in celebration, the teammates smiling widely.

“If Meg wasn’t awesome,” Woolery said, “I couldn’t be awesome, so just grateful to have her by my side.”

There’s symmetry in almost everything they do. Both players were finalists for USA Softball collegiate player of the year and have been first team all-conference selections in every season at UCLA.

Megan Grant (43), joining teammates in a celebratory “night night” gesture after hitting a home run Friday against UC Santa Barbara, has 25 home runs and 79 RBIs this season.

(Carlin Stiehl / Los Angeles Times)

Grant’s 25 homers are tied with Ohio State’s Jasmyn Burns for the most in a single season by any Big Ten Conference player. If Grant hits another homer, she’ll break the conference record since Ohio State has been eliminated from the NCAA tournament.

Woolery, who has hit 22 homers, leads the team with 82 RBIs, and her .423 batting average trails only Savannah Pola’s .437. Collectively, the Bruins comprise one of the most fearsome lineups in the country, having piled up a team-record 28 mercy-rule wins.

Hitting coach Lisa Fernandez won’t rate Woolery or Grant over the other in terms of power.

“Oh, no,” Fernandez said with a laugh. “I mean, they’re both powerful. And I give them credit — as powerful as they are, they don’t just rely on that, you know what I mean? They understand when they need to go for theirs, they understand the process.

“I think they push each other, but they do it in a way that is also embracing each other’s gifts and successes, and I think that is a credit to them and the relationship that they have. We make a conscious effort to understand that one helps the other. The better Jo does, Megan has a chance to pick up RBIs and when Megan does great, Jordan, you’re going to see pitches, so you work together, they make each other great.”

Woolery and Grant have known each other since committing to UCLA when they were in the eighth grade. Even then, Fernandez said, she realized they “may be the best one-two combo in terms of power numbers that have played this game in terms of being back to back.”

Although Woolery dabbled in basketball growing up, Grant was once so smitten with the sport that she thought it was going to be her pathway to a Division I college scholarship. She even earned the nickname “Chef Megan” — a play on Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry’s nickname — before all of the hoopla about sticking with basketball ended when her travel-team coach told her that softball was her calling.

UCLA infielders Jordan Woolery (15) and Megan Grant (43) during a win over UC Santa Barbara. The two combined for 13 RBIs as the Bruins dominated their own regional tournament.

(Carlin Stiehl / Los Angeles Times)

Grant’s toughness is rooted in playing baseball alongside two older brothers who spared no sympathy.

“Being the baby didn’t really mean anything to them, you know?” Grant said. “It was always hardcore — if you can’t catch, get out, that type of stuff.”

That sort of mentality comes in handy for both players while taking batting practice from Fernandez, widely regarded as the top pitcher in softball history.

“Having the greatest pitcher pitch to you after practice,” Woolery said, “that’s a dream, honestly.”

Although it would have been easy for one slugger to try to top the other, they immediately realized that pulling together would only amplify the possibilities.

“At the end of the day,” Woolery said, “our goal is to win a national championship, so we can’t do that if we’re competing against each other, you know?”

Grant likes to say that she has the best seat in the house, watching Woolery hit from the on-deck circle. Whenever one of the — insert nickname here — hits a home run, she always finds her beloved teammate in the dugout, leading to an embrace.

“It’s just like such a bliss moment,” Woolery said. “Just seeing Meg do her thing, it’s so special.”

Pressed about the nickname possibilities, both players finally acknowledge they do have a favorite.

Not surprisingly, it’s the same one, created by Vinny Lavalsiti, a member of the school’s athletics communications staff.

Said Grant: “Bruin Bombers.”

Said Woolery: “Yeah, Bruin Bombers.”