Between workouts, charity events, and shopping, Ann Barons keeps her days as full as her walk-in closets. She shares an immaculate house with her CEO husband, Mike, and their two teenagers, Nate and Lauren. It's a luxurious life, far from her homespun chi

Susan Kietzman's engrossing and thought-provoking novel explores the choices and revelations that come with life's most unexpected events. Grace Trumbull's after work drink with Bradley Hanover, a handsome younger colleague, on a warm summer night turns into an impulsive, intimate encounter. After a few weeks of exhilarating secret dates, Grace—forty-two and divorced—realizes she's pregnant. For Grace, whose estranged mother refers to her own teenage pregnancy as her biggest mistake, the prospect of parenthood is daunting. She's just been made vice president of a media relations company and is childfree by choice. Still, something deeper than her fear makes her want to keep the baby. She knows she can be a better, more capable parent than her mother was to her. As months pass and seasons change, Grace questions her decision to include Bradley in her plans. But they continue to navigate their complicated relationship, each struggling...

Three women, each facing an empty nest, come together to cheer and challenge one another in this insightful, poignant new novel from acclaimed author Susan Kietzman.For years, Ellie, Alice, and Joan enjoyed a casual friendship while volunteering at their children's Connecticut high school. Now, with those children grown and gone to college, a local tragedy brings the three into contact again. But what begins as a catch-up lunch soon moves beyond small talk to the struggles of this next stage of life.Joan Howard has spent twenty years of marriage doing what's expected of Howard women: shopping, dressing well, and keeping a beautiful home. Unfulfilled, her boredom and emptiness eventually find a secret outlet at the local casino. Meanwhile, Ellie's efforts to expand her accounting business lead to a new friendship that clashes with her family's traditional worldview. And Alice, feeling increasingly distant from her husband, and alienated from her once fit body, takes...

"Beautifully written and closely observed, The Summer Cottage captures the deep and complicated love of family. Reading this lovely novel, I felt the embrace of summer on the shoreline."--Luanne Rice, New York Times bestselling authorSpanning two summers decades apart, Susan Kietzman's poignant new novel explores the complexities of the people--and places--that shape our lives... Helen Street spent every summer of her childhood at her family's cedar-shake cottage on Long Island Sound. The youngest of four, she shared her mother Claire's athletic genes and relished the orchestrated games and competitions that filled those warm, endless days. Unlike her older siblings--fiery Charlotte, ambitious Thomas, middle-child Pammy--Helen rarely felt the pressure of her mother's high expectations. Thirty years later, with her brother and sisters scattered, Helen is the sole caregiver for Claire, now terminally ill. Knowing her death is...

In this poignant and insightful new novel, the acclaimed author of The Good Life delves beneath the shimmering surface of one couple's evolving marriage. . .Karen Spears and Bob Parsons meet in college and embark upon the kind of enviable, picture-perfect relationship featured in romantic movies. Bob is ambitious and adoring;Karen is bright and beautiful. And nothing seems more natural to them than getting married right after Karen's graduation.Newlywed life meets all of Karen's expectations. Bob's career is soaring and Karen has a fulfilling job of her own—one that's put on hold when she becomes pregnant. But their caring partnership begins to slip away as Bob's single-minded pursuit of the next promotion blinds him to how overwhelmed Karen feels as a stay-at-home mom. When resentment and disenchantment build on both sides, Karen finds herself at a crossroads. What happens when reality erodes your ideal relationship? How do you know when to stay and when to...