Two Upper East Side wives who’ve written competing books are taking the “social” out of socialite – taking their feud to the cocktail-party scene and even the kiddie playground.
In one corner is Tatiana Boncompagni, 31, vacuum heir Maximilian Hoover’s wife, whose novel “Hedge Fund Wives” hits shelves in May. In the other is Jill Kargman, 34-year-old daughter of former Chanel President Arie Kopelman, whose roman à clef, “The Ex-Mrs. Hedgefund,” arrives in April.
Both tales are narrated by hedge-fund wives whose lives of Botox, Bergdorf’s and liquid lunches grind to a halt after they catch their husbands cheating. Both tomes clock in at just under 290 pages.
Now, just weeks before the launch of Kargman’s book, Boncompagni claims her rival may have stolen her concept.
“My project wasn’t private,” Boncompagni said. “I shared an early draft with our mutual friends. I mentioned it to the New York Observer. It’s not like it was a secret.”
Kargman, the best-selling author of “Momzillas” and six other books, says she didn’t know about Boncompagni’s book until both novels were being reviewed.
She says she drew her inspiration from friends.
“I noticed that a lot of marriages were splitting up,” Kargman said. “People in New York had a morally elastic way of life because there was so much money around. Let’s just say Eliot Spitzer wasn’t alone.”
But on the champagne circuit, the expensively manicured claws are out.
Boncompagni says Kargman snubbed her at the Winter Wonderland Ball at the New York Botanical Garden in December.
“I went up to her and said, ‘Hey, I want to talk to you!’ ” she recalled. ” ‘I wanted to clear the air about our books.’ She just smiled and walked away.”
Even their daughters, Ivy and Valentina, are joining the fray. The toddlers slapped and scratched each other at summer playgroup Broadway Babies, according to a witness.
“Sometimes you just don’t click with people,” said Boncompagni, whose first novel, “Gilding Lily,” debuted last year. “I guess that’s true for toddlers, too.”
Boncompagni isn’t the type to flounce away from a fight.
Last October, she sued her own sister, Natasha, claiming she had copied portions of Boncompagni’s “Hedge Fund Wives” manuscript and claimed co-authorship.
Natasha, 33, denied the charge, saying she co-wrote the novel.
The suit was settled in January, with Natasha agreeing not to cash in unless the book sells more than 20,000 copies by 2010.
Meanwhile, Kargman says she would prefer to just turn the page. “I had nothing to hide. I’m really sad she felt that way.”