It's 1964, and the CBS TV sitcom Meet the Newmans   has become outdated. The show, featuring the antics of married couple Del and Dinah and their two sons, Guy and Shep, has seen a decline in ratings due to its failure to adapt to changing times. Behind the scenes, the sons seek lives far from their on-screen characters. When Del is in a car accident and hospitalized, Dinah and her sons need to salvage the final episodes of the season. Juliet, a young newspaper reporter whose

Elinor Gilbert had worked as an FBI agent until her supervisor, Alan Metcalf, made the scapegoat for a problematic incident he had caused. She is shocked when Metcalf contacts her for a special undercover assignment, offering a chance to repair her reputation with the Bureau and recover back wages. At the age of fifty, Elinor feels as if she walking through life feeling invisible, and this assignment excites her to get back in the game. Wearing a fat suit and make-up that exa

Set in Paris, two stories separated by 300 years are connected by the city's hidden underground tunnels. In 1664, Alouette Voland watched as her father created beautiful dyes for the Gobelin Tapestry Works. As a woman, she was denied the opportunity to be recognized for her own creative talents. When her father is imprisoned, Alouette attempts to defend him and is sent to Salpêtrière, an asylum for women deemed insane, where she finds other courageous women. In 1939, Kristof

It's 1979 in Yorkshire, England. Twelve-year-old Mavis, known as Miv, lives with her parents and her Aunty Jean, who moved in after her mother became ill and mentally withdrawn from the family. Life in the former mill town became overshadowed by a serial killer known as the Yorkshire Ripper. With the police making little progress on the case, Miv and her best friend Sharon decide to take matters into their own hands to uncover who is murdering local women. Miv fears that her

Lucy Ambrose lives in Georgetown with her three best friends from college - Addie, Penelope, and Estella. Although they share everything with each other, Lucy has kept her past as a child from an abusive home from her friends. She is outraged when Addie comes back from a run, hurt and bloodied. At first, Addie thinks the person who attacked her was her ex-boyfriend Josh, a popular local TV investigative reporter and son of a former Presidential candidate, but she later believ

During her troubled childhood in Shanghai, Mei discovered that she possessed the Sight - she could see spirits. In 1953, as a young woman in her 20s, she received an invitation to participate in a seance competition in Hong Kong, hosted at the mansion of Holly Zhang, a former silent film star and wife of George Maidenhair, Mei's teacher, former surrogate father, and the man she now hates and seeks revenge on. The contest ends with most of the attendees murdered, yet the polic

We first met Josie Gray in Laura Buchwald's The Ghost Table Trilogy's debut novel,  The Coat Check Girl . In this second installment,  The Book of Reservations , the story advances to September 2000. Josie and her partner, Derek, own Miss Sylvie's Bistrot, located in the heart of Greenwich Village, serving authentic New Orleans cuisine. Business is challenging, and staffing is an ongoing issue. One of the main sources of conflict for the couple is the table Josie sets each da

Lauren is living in Spain with her young son, Sam. Although she is dealing with a loss, she is content. Her life in  Mantilla de Mar takes a turn when the police knock on her door. A woman in England named Hope has reported her son Sam as missing, and he matches the description of Lauren's child. When Lauren presents Sam's passport and birth certificate, the mystery begins. There is only one boy named Sam, and there are two mothers. The story goes back in time, revealing the

Lennon Gallagher is completing her final year of law school in Connecticut, having overcome significant challenges to reach this point. With a mother who struggled with addiction and spent time in jail, an unstable childhood, and an absent father, Lennon has faced many obstacles. Despite it all, Lennon is smart and resourceful. Luckily, she has had the support and encouragement of her mother's former childhood best friend, Miranda (Randi) Quinn, a legal-aid attorney. As Lenno

Bel Macauley, who had a successful podcast, is now an investigative reporter for a major British newspaper, working in its remote office in Manchester. Connor Adams is their new intern. Unlike most interns, Connor is in his mid-30s, having made a career switch from finance, which he despised, to journalism. Bel and Connor get off on the wrong foot. When Bel comes upon a significant lead about Manchester's married mayor involving inappropriate behavior with women, she needs pr

Marlowe Fisher is a freelance illustrator living in New York City. Her family owns Gray House, located on a farm in New York's Hudson Valley, which they purchased from the Gallagher family. Marlowe enjoyed many happy, adventurous summers there with her two brothers and her best friend, Nora. But twenty years ago, everything changed when Nora went missing and was never found. Marlowe has never come to terms with the loss, and the community, including Nora's family, has always

Deni Rydell was raised in the small, working-class town of Prosperity in Northern California. She attended school with the rich children from neighboring Gold Hills. Feeling ostracized, she was happy to become friends with the wealthy Luna. Deni had a huge crush on Cal Copper, though she believed she didn't stand a chance with him. But years later, Deni, working as a waitress in the local cafe, became engaged to Cal and eagerly awaited their wedding and the start of her new l

Meet  Bartie Maddox. He handles public relations for SGM Studios. He is an image-maker. A fixer. Starting from humble beginnings, Bartie made his way to Los Angeles, where he helped shape the public personas of the stars and cleaned up their messes. Head back to the days of Old Hollywood, when the studios gave the public what they wanted and kept far from them, the true stories that would destroy the images of the top movie stars. Bartie helped to create and protect the caree

Dominic Salt and his three children are the last inhabitants of Shearwater Island. Situated between Antarctica and Tasmania, the island houses a seed vault intended to replenish food supplies in the event of a global disaster. Until recently, a team of climate change researchers also lived there. However, due to rising sea levels, the outpost is shutting down and Dominic, its caretaker, is getting the seeds boxed up awaiting a ship to arrive which will transport the seeds to

Michaela Turner, once beloved as a child star for her role as Daisy Breyer on  Breyer's Town , a sitcom still airing in reruns. She's now 27-years-old but to the public, she's still Daisy. Her acting career ended with the show, and instead of pursuing a new path, she has become a party girl, making a living off her celebrity status by appearing at the trendiest clubs. Her only true friend is Josh, who is struggling to shed this image as the popular lead in a former boy band..

During World War II, San Francisco was the second busiest port for with over 1.6 million military personnel sent overseas. In 1944, 20-year-old Irene Mary Cleary is doing her part by volunteering, along with her best friend Trixie, at the USO dances. By day, Irene manages her own seamstress shop, which she inherited from Anna, the kind woman who mentored her after growing up in a Catholic orphanage. When Irene is summoned to Nob Hill to redesign a dress for Cynthia Burke, one

In Lahore, Pakistan, Lalloo's parents are indentured laborers living in a small hut on a bhatti , where they produce bricks. The debt they owe the landowner is too substantial for them to escape their circumstances. When Lalloo's older brother Jugnu is brutally killed, his parents send seven-year-old Lalloo away to work as an apprentice for his safety. As the years go by, Lalloo, feeling abandoned, has had minimal contact with his parents. Now in his 20s, Lalloo has been savi

Cricket Campbell is 26 years old and living in New York City. She's bright but is still searching to find herself. Her older sister Nina has been caring for their father, Arthur, who has Alzheimer's. When Nina gets an opportunity that requires her to move abroad, the plan is to move Arthur into a memory care facility. However, Cricket decides it's her turn to take responsibility, and she becomes her father's caregiver, moving into his house on Catwood Pond in the Adirondacks.

Meet Margot  Miyake. She and her husband, Ian, are living in tight quarters in the Washington, D.C. area while trying to purchase their dream  home. But it's a seller's market, and they keep getting outbid. Margot, who is 37 years old, is also struggling with getting pregnant. She wants it all and believes she deserves to have it all. When the perfect home is about to come on the market, Margot is determined to ensure that it becomes hers. And she'll do anything to get it. An

Following the death of her mother in 2020 at the age of 96, a uthor Gish Jen started writing a memoir about Loo Shu-Hsin (Agnes), with whom she had a difficult relationship. However, since her mother rarely spoke about her childhood in Shanghai, the memoir evolved into an autobiographical novel. Loo was born in 1925 into a large, affluent family. Her mother showed little regard or affection for Loo despite being a bright girl. After college, Loo was permitted to travel to the