The Stars Shine Down Columbia by Sidney Sheldon

The novel tells the story of Lara , a successful real estate developer who came from a broken family in Nova Scotia. Lara's mother and her male twin die in their childbirth and her Scottish father, who collects rents for boarding houses, doesn't want her. Early in life, she learns to fend for herself and how to get her own way in a male-dominated world. After her father's death due to a sudden heart failure, Lara takes up her father's job along with her own kitchen work in the boarding house. She meets a man called Charles Cohn who is much impressed by her. He hands her a contract for building.