Having arrived at a certain age (her prime), Ann Leary casts a wry backward glance at a life spent trying --- and often failing --- to be nice. With wit and surprising candor, Leary recounts the bedlam of home bat invasions, an obsession with online personality tests, and the mortification of taking ballroom dance lessons with her actor husband. She describes hilarious red-carpet fiascos and other observations from the sidelines of fame, while also touching upon her more poignant struggles with alcoholism, her love for her family, her dogs and so much more.

It’s 1927, and 18-year-old Mary Engle is hired to work as a secretary at a remote but scenic institution for mentally disabled women. She’s immediately in awe of her employer, Dr. Agnes Vogel, who runs one of the largest and most self-sufficient public asylums for women in the country. Mary deeply admires how dedicated the doctor is to the poor and vulnerable women under her care. Soon after she’s hired, Mary learns that a girl from her childhood orphanage, Lillian, is one of the inmates. When Lillian begs Mary to help her escape, alleging the asylum is not what it seems, Mary is faced with a terrible choice. Should she trust her troubled friend with whom she shares a dark childhood secret?

Charlotte Maynard rarely leaves her mother’s home, the sprawling Connecticut lake house that belonged to her late stepfather, Whit Whitman, and the generations of Whitmans before him. While Charlotte and her sister, Sally, grew up at “Lakeside,” their stepbrothers, Spin and Perry, were welcomed as weekend guests. Now the grown boys own the estate. When Spin brings his fiancé home for the summer, the entire family is intrigued. The beautiful and accomplished Laurel Atwood breathes new life into this often comically rarefied world. But as the wedding draws near, and flaws surface in the family’s polite veneer, an array of simmering resentments and unfortunate truths is exposed.

Ann Leary tells the story of a friendship between two women who give their small New England town plenty to talk about. Hildy Good is a recovering alcoholic, while newcomer Rebecca McAllister is on the brink of a scandal. When Hildy intervenes to protect Rebecca’s reputation, the two women find their secrets entwined and the power of small town gossip becomes all too real.

Ann Leary tells the story of a friendship between two women who give their small New England town plenty to talk about. Hildy Good is a recovering alcoholic, while newcomer Rebecca McAllister is on the brink of a scandal. When Hildy intervenes to protect Rebecca’s reputation, the two women find their secrets entwined and the power of small town gossip becomes all too real.