Belva Plain's many New York Times best-selling novels, including Promises, are beloved by her fans for their ability to convey bittersweet tales of the heart. Looking Back follows the intertwined lives of three bright young women. Cecile is a beautiful child of privilege; Amanda is ambitious but poor; Norma is the academic star, yet the least self-assured. They are inseparable at college. And when the three classmates graduate and move into careers...

An American aristocrat--a descendant of founding father John Jay--Susan Mary Alsop (1918-2004) knew absolutely everyone and brought together the movers and shakers of not just the United States, but the world. Henry Kissinger remarked that more agreements were concluded in her living room than in the White House. In 1945 Susan Mary joined her first husband, a young diplomat, in Paris, where she was at the center of the postwar diplomatic social circuit,...

Born and raised in a tight-knit Orthodox Jewish family, Mirvis committed herself to observing the rules and rituals: to observe was to be accepted and to be accepted was to be loved. She married a man from within the fold and quickly began a family. Her doubts became noisier than her faith, and it became a suffocating existence. Leaving her husband and her faith, Mirvis set out to discover what she does believe and who she really is

After the death of their father, Collette and Jean-Michel Langelier are no longer tied to post-war France. While his sister dreams of adventure, Jean-Michel is hoping to finally escape reminders of the horrors he faced in the war. When Jean-Michel receives an unexpected invitation for them to visit Alaska and the Curry Hotel, it seems an opportunity for a change he needs. Katherine Demarchis is a young widow who does not grieve the dangerous husband...

The shocking truth about postwar adoption in America, told through the bittersweet story of one teenager, the son she was forced to relinquish, and their search to find each other-- As Baby Boomers became teenagers in 1960s America, women were encouragedto stay home and raise large families, but sex and childbirth were taboo subjects. Premarital sex was common, but birth control was hard to get and abortion was illegal. In 1961, sixteen-year-old Margaret...

There is a voice of longing inside every woman. We strive so mightily to be good: good mothers, daughters, partners, employees, citizens, and friends. We believe all this striving will make us feel alive. Instead, it leaves us feeling weary, stuck, overwhelmed, and underwhelmed. We look at our lives, relationships, and world, and wonder: Wasn't it all supposed to be more beautiful than this? We quickly silence that question, telling ourselves to be...

After sending her daughter off to school, Jessie finds herself feeling alone and restless in her 20-year marriage. When she receives a disturbing phone call, she embarks on a journey to her childhood home on a beautiful island to deal with the shocking behavior of her mentally unstable mother. Jessie meets and finds herself undeniably attracted to a Benedictine monk. Jessie undergo a spiritual, artistic, and erotic awakening.

"Set amid the most turbulent social and political period of modern times, Ninth Street Women is the impassioned, wild, sometimes tragic, always exhilarating chronicle of five women who dared to enter the male-dominated world of twentieth-century abstract painting--not as muses but as artists. From their cold-water lofts, where they worked, drank, fought, and loved, these pioneers burst open the door to the art world for themselves and countless others...

Three new thriller-novellas from the world's best-selling author include the tales of a honeymooning CIA agent who is poisoned and a pair of grifters who attempt to take control of the home of a murdered L.A. doctor. 3 Days to Live - A CIA-agent bride is on her European honeymoon when she and her husband are poisoned{u2014}leaving her seventy-two hours to take revenge. Women and Children First - When a deal goes bad on a tech executive in Washington,...

Love's enduring promise: Missie Davis, devoted equally to teaching school and doing her share on the family farm, becomes torn between two very different men until she learns what is really important. Love's long journey: Missie and Wille LaHaye are on their way to the west. The couple become rugged pioneers as they face all kinds of hardships, including death. Missie fights homesickness, boredom, and being pushed to the limit. Can her faith help...