Charlotte Perkins submits a provocative essay to win a Mediterranean cruise. At seventy, she hopes the contest prize will bring together her three distant adult children. Lee struggles as an almost-famous actress. Cord works as a Manhattan venture capitalist but cannot find love. Regan feels overwhelmed as a mother, still hurt that Charlotte gave her a Weight Watchers certificate for her birthday. Charlotte remembers when her children were small and she was their whole world as a single mother. The family boards the Splendido Marveloso for ten days sailing from Athens to Rome to Barcelona. Each person carries emotional baggage alongside their luggage. New romantic relationships complicate the journey as old secrets surface. The Perkins family must face the critical decisions that shaped their lives. Four adults search for peace by confronting childhood pain and reconnecting with each other.
Genres: literary-fiction, contemporary, relationships, family-drama
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, second-chance
Setting: Athens, Barcelona, Mediterranean, Rome
Period: 21st-century
Hardcover