by Emily Giffin
First published 2012
Marian Caldwell has built exactly the life she wants. At thirty-six, she produces television in New York City, enjoys her career, and maintains a solid relationship. She has convinced herself that her perfectly ordered world reflects her true desires. Then Kirby Rose knocks on her door. The eighteen-year-old girl carries secrets that connect to a past Marian believed she had permanently buried. Kirby's arrival shatters Marian's constructed identity and resurrects memories of an intense young romance that threatens everything Marian has become. For Kirby, meeting Marian launches her own journey of self-discovery. The precocious teenager must reconsider her family relationships and future plans as she crosses into adulthood. Both women search for what their lives have been missing. Their parallel journeys reveal that belonging often emerges in unexpected places, in locations the mind may reject but the heart never forgets.
Genres: romance, literary-fiction, contemporary, family-drama
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, second-chance
Setting: New York City
Period: 21st-century
372 pages · Hardcover · St. Martin's Press