Kathleen Tessaro

"In Depression-era Boston, a city divided by privilege and poverty, two unlikely friends are bound by a dangerous secret in this mesmerizing work of historical fiction from the New York Times bestselling author of The Perfume Collector. Maeve Fanning is a first generation Irish immigrant, born and raised among the poor, industrious Italian families of Boston's North End by her widowed mother. Clever, capable, and as headstrong as her red hair suggests, she's determined to better herself despite the overwhelming hardships of the Great Depression. However, Maeve also has a dangerous fondness for strange men and bootleg gin--a rebellious appetite that soon finds her spiraling downward, leading a double life. When the strain proves too much, Maeve becomes an unwilling patient in a psychiatric hospital, where she strikes up a friendship with an enigmatic young woman, who, like Maeve, is unable or unwilling to control her un-lady-like desire for freedom. Once out, Maeve faces starting over again. Armed with a bottle of bleach and a few white lies, she lands a job at an eccentric antiques shop catering to Boston's wealthiest and most peculiar collectors. Run by an elusive English archeologist, the shop is a haven of the obscure and incredible, providing rare artifacts as well as unique access to the world of America's social elite. While delivering a purchase to the wealthy Van der Laar family, Maeve is introduced to beautiful socialite Diana Van der Laar--only to discover she's the young woman from the hospital. Reunited with the charming but increasingly unstable Diana and pursued by her attractive brother James, Mae becomes more and more entwined with the Van der Laar family--a connection that pulls her into a world of moral ambiguity and deceit, and ultimately betrayal. Bewitched by their wealth and desperate to leave her past behind, Maeve is forced to unearth her true values and discover how far she'll to go to reinvent herself"-- "A new work of historical fiction from Kathleen Tessaro, the New York Times bestselling author of The Perfume Collector--set near the end of the Prohibition era and the beginning of the Great Depression, in a city divided by privilege and poverty, a young woman sets out to reinvent herself."-- Maeve Fanning, Irish but raised among the Italian families of Boston's North End, is determined to better herself despite the hardships of the Great Depression. A fondness for strange men and bootleg gin results in Maeve becoming an unwilling patient in a psychiatric hospital. There she strikes up a friendship with another woman unable or unwilling to control her un-lady-like desire for freedom. Once out, armed with a bottle of bleach and a few white lies, Maeve lands a job at an eccentric antiques shop catering to Boston's wealthiest collectors. Delivering a purchase to the Van der Laar family, she discovers that socialite Diana Van der Laar is the young woman from the hospital. The connection pulls her into a world of moral ambiguity and deceit, and ultimately betrayal.

Fraught with insecurity about her husband's increasingly distant behavior, Louise Canova obtains a faded fashion guide from a second-hand bookshop and discovers that its lessons have unexpected results.

"You want us to pretend to be engaged. You're joking, right?" -- Lanie Meyers, Debutante Doesn't everyone want true love? No way. For sexy Miles Fortune, the youngest of the Fortune triplets, soul mates are for suckers. But when the playboy rancher eyes blond bombshell Lanie Meyers at the governor's fund-raiser, he's soon face-to-face with a woman who's wilder than he is. She also happens to be the governor's daughter. But the paparazzi have a way of showing up when things get crazy -- and their compromising position is making headline news. There's only one way to save face. Pretend to be engaged -- at least until Lanie's father's election is over. But when an underhanded deal goes sour, Miles must convince Lanie that playing to the press will be more pleasurable than she thinks.

Newlywed Grace Monroe doesn't fit anyone's expectations of a successful 1950s London socialite, least of all her own. When she receives an unexpected inheritance from a complete stranger, Madame Eva d'Orsey, Grace is drawn to uncover the identity of her mysterious benefactor. Weaving through the decades, from 1920s New York to Monte Carlo, Paris, and London, the story Grace uncovers is that of an extraordinary women who inspired one of Paris's greatest perfumers. Immortalized in three evocative perfumes, Eva d'Orsey's history will transform Grace's life forever, forcing her to choose between the woman she is expected to be and the person she really is.

Tantalizing words written on an ivory card. It is the first clue that will lead an intrigued and intriguing London lady on an odyssey of sensual experience designed to awaken her romantic nature.Out-of-work actor Hughie Venables-Smythe has found a profitable new outlet for his talents. He is hired, often by distraught husbands, to flirt with wives who are feeling neglected in their relationships. His current seductive campaign is focused on Olivia, the spouse of a narcissistic billionaire, and the lady is responding quite nicely to the cream-colored missives he secretly leaves for her. So nicely, in fact, that Hughie decides to employ a similar technique—and shockingly similar messages—in his pursuit of his own heart's desire: the aloof and charming lingerie designer, Leticia. But the canny, professional flirt's brazen anonymous intrusions into the lives of two women are about to set in motion a series of remarkable events that no one could have anticipated—setting the stage for shocking revelations about love, friendship, and domestic bliss.

Insecure wife Louise Canova consults a faded volume titled "Elegance" that promises to transform plain women into creatures of grace and poise.