First published 2011
Lena Rusch and her husband Charlie Pepper navigate their marriage in San Francisco during Obama's first presidential year. They once believed they could achieve everything together: passionate love, successful careers, children, and personal fulfillment. Then reality strikes hard. Their child is stillborn. The economy crashes around them. A business competitor threatens Charlie's work while an former lover resurfaces in Lena's life. These crises force the couple to confront limitations they never imagined. Lena's uncle Cal dominates Silicon Valley business circles alongside his socialite wife Ivy, creating additional complications for everyone in their orbit. As both couples wrestle with past temptations and dreams of starting over, they learn that authentic life presents the greatest test of all. Lena searches for grace while Charlie fights to save his ambitions. Their journey reveals whether love can survive when everything else falls apart.
Genres: fiction, literary-fiction, contemporary, 21st-century, contemporary-romance, family-drama
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, second-chance
Setting: San Francisco, Silicon Valley
Period: Obama's First Presidential Year
304 pages · Hardcover · Scribner
Content warnings: infertility, pregnancy-loss