Gerald's elegant and charming wife, Rachel is from a family of wealthy Jewish bankers. She appears the consummate politician's wife.
Cultured and sophisticated, she runs a beautiful house and is a brilliant hostess for their endless dinner parties and soirees. She makes a great effort to help Nick feel a part of the family, and becomes everything that Nick wished his real mother could be.
Rachel is more sensitive than Gerald, but remains as incapable as her husband of accepting the severity of Catherine's illness. When the family is threatened by scandal, Rachel refuses to face up to the whole truth and duly stands by her man. As Nick is made scapegoat for their problems, it is her sharp and shocking remonstrations that cut him the deepest.
