First published 2026
Sonia runs questionable business deals with wealthy Eastern Europeans while dodging PTA meetings in Los Angeles. She raises her sharp daughter Mila alone, speaking little of their past or Mila's missing father. The girl inherits her mother's intelligence and develops a passion for Shostakovich, but isolation gnaws at her. When Mila discovers mysterious emails on her mother's computer, she hatches a plan to uncover her father's identity. Her investigation threatens to unravel the careful life Sonia built after arriving from Budapest as young Szonja Imre in 1990. Szonja came to visit her sister Rina, expecting Hollywood glamour but finding suburban conformity instead. Their clashing visions of American freedom led to a rift that left Szonja stranded as an undocumented immigrant. Now Mila's curiosity forces both mother and daughter to confront the choices that shaped their unconventional family. The story moves between Cold War Budapest, political Washington DC, and sun-soaked Los Angeles to explore how mothers and daughters create connection despite secrets and distance.
Genres: literary-fiction, domestic-fiction, american-fiction, contemporary, 21st-century, family-drama
Vibes: emotionally-complex, intimate, introspective, mysterious, tension-filled, thought-provoking
Tropes: coming-of-age, family-secrets, generational-trauma, mystery-investigation, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Budapest, Los Angeles, Washington DC, Eastern Europe
Period: Cold War era, 1990, 21st century
320 pages · Paperback · S&S/Summit Books