In 1951, a mysterious old woman confronts Pilar Aguirre in the small border town of La Cienega, Texas. The old woman is sure Pilar stole her husband and, in a heated outburst, lays a curse on Pilar and her family. More than forty years later, Lulu Muñoz is dodging chaos at every turn: her troubled father's moods, his rules, her secret life as singer in a punk band, but most of all her upcoming quinceañera. When her beloved grandmother passes away,...

Newly graduated from college, aspiring writer Beth Hayes is elected by her family to house-sit the Island Gamble. Buoyed by sentimental memories of growing up on this tiny sandbar seemingly untouched by time, Beth vows to give herself over to the Lowcountry force and discover the wisdom it holds. Just as she vows she will never give into the delusional world of white picket fences, minivans, and eternal love, she meets Max Mitchell. All her convictions...

On the surface Rebecca is outgoing, joyous, a natural celebrator. Giving parties is, after all, her vocation, something she slipped into when Joe Davitch spotted her at a party in his family's Baltimore row house, where giving parties was the family business. Soon this man, divorced and with three little girls, swept her into his orbit and, before she knew it, she was embracing his family plus a child of their own and hosting endless parties in the...

Edie Burchill receives a letter that has lain for 50 years in a forgotten postal bag, and begins to suspect that her mother's emotional distance masked an old secret. She sets out to find the answers by tracking the letter back to its source, starting with the return address: Milderhurst Castle, Kent, where her mother had been taken as a child, during the London evacuations of World War II.

Fresh from cooking school, Tom Feather and Cathy Scarlet are hot additions to the Dublin scene with their new catering company, but some people in the city, including their families, are not so keen on the idea of their success.

Morgan Grant and her sixteen-year-old daughter, Clara, would like nothing more than to be nothing alike. With warring personalities and conflicting goals, Morgan and Clara find it increasingly difficult to coexist. The only person who can bring peace to the household is Chris--Morgan's husband, Clara's father, and the family anchor. But that peace is shattered when Chris is involved in a tragic and questionable accident. The heartbreaking and long-lasting...

The crumbling Victorian had been abandoned long before Jane ever discovered it as a child. Still, the house became a hideaway whenever Jane needed to escape her volatile mother. Twenty years later, now a Harvard archivist, she returns home to Maine following the dissolution of her marriage and is horrified to find the Victorian is barely recognizable. A rich lady from Beacon Hill has gutted it, and in its place stands a glossy white mansion straight...

While trying to pinpoint the root of her dissatisfaction with her life, Daisy Shoemaker begins receiving misdirected emails meant for another woman and starts living vicariously through her until she discovers that their connection was not completely accidental.

The marriage of a seemingly perfect couple dissolves into a complicated dance of affairs, lovers, and admirers.

"For lovers of Meg Wolitzer, Maria Semple, and Jenny Offill comes this raucous, poignant celebration of life, love, and friendship at its imperfect and radiant best. Edith and Ashley have been best friends for over forty-two years. They've shared the mundane and the momentous together: trick or treating and binge drinking; Gilligan's Island reruns and REM concerts; hickeys and heartbreak; surprise Scottish wakes; marriages, infertility, and children....