“Reading Viola Shipman’s novels is like talking with your best friend and wanting never to hang up the phone.” —Nancy Thayer, New York Times bestselling author
A young romance writer finds success and vindication when she discovers a hidden manuscript at her family’s summer home that throws her snobbish parents’ highbrow literary careers into chaos. A sharp, insightful family drama for fans of Elinor Lipman and Jennifer Weiner.
Emma Page grew up in a home of “serious” writers. While her parents are highly regarded—if not bestselling—literary authors, they also run their own vanity press in the heart of Manhattan. Hiding her own romance manuscript from her family, Emma retreats to the family cottage on Lake Michigan, which is filled with books—summer romances that belonged to her late grandmother. Emboldened by the “fluff” her Gigi loved to read on the beach, Emma queries a literary agent with her manuscript, and it sells immediately and soon becomes a smash social media sensation.
But her family’s reaction to Emma’s commercial success is even more vicious than she expected. Then, in a search of the family cottage, she unearths some old manuscripts of her grandmother’s that reveal a secret that will force everyone to confront their own egos, and upend the entire family.