Beautiful and Damned

Few people in the world had the advantages of Olivia and Emma Handler. raised on a lavish estate said to have inspired The Great Gutshy, until two untimely deaths on the property tarnished their once charmed life.

- By Beatrice Hazlehurst. Photographed by Celeste Sloman

In the middle of the living room sat a swimming pool. It was not some small inflatable tub, but a massive cylinder, designed for the outdoors. Olivia Handler, 18, saw to its installation, deciding it would be the main attraction for a surprise party she was throwing for her 15-year-old sister, Emma, who would be spending the summer of 2012 back home after having completed her sophomore year at Interlochen Arts Academy, a boarding school in Michigan. A white sheet cake decorated with blue and pink roses sat on the kitchen island with the message, in inexpertly piped lettering, "Welcome From Jail Emma."

Despite the party's dramatic aquatic centerpiece, the real draws to the Handler house that night were the sisters themselves. Olivia's wavy blonde hair and bright baby blues conjured a kind of milkmaid innocence, while Emma, with pin-straight brunette locks, resembled Wednesday Addams gone prep.

While Emma would go on to become known in their corner of northwestern Long Island for her grand soirees, tonight's party would be one for the books. "When I saw the cake, it sank in that I'd finally made it home," Emma says. "It was like I was free."

A spontaneous swim would mean sacrificing perfectly applied eyeliner and hot-ironed hair. Still, a drunken, indoor dip, free of parental supervision, was no doubt appealing to the adolescent partygoers. "Surreal" is how Emma describes the scene now. "People were jumping from the rafters into the pool."

Perhaps even more surreal was the pool's setting-the majestic five-bedroom Orchard House, part of a sprawling estate at the northern tip of Great Neck that some locals claim F. Scott Fitzgerald took inspiration from while writing The Great Gatsby.