A REESE’S BOOK CLUB PICK · AN INSTANT #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER · Two writers compete for the chance to tell the larger-than-life story of a woman with more than a couple of plot twists up her sleeve in this dazzling and sweeping novel from Emily Henry.
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Alice Scott is an eternal optimist still dreaming of her big writing break. Hayden Anderson is a Pulitzer-prize winning human thundercloud. And they’re both on balmy Little Crescent Island for the same reason: to write the biography of a woman no one has seen in years—or at least to meet with the octogenarian who claims to be the Margaret Ives. Tragic heiress, former tabloid princess, and daughter of one of the most storied (and scandalous) families of the twentieth century.
When Margaret invites them both for a one-month trial period, after which she’ll choose the person who’ll tell her story, there are three things keeping Alice’s head in the game.
One: Alice genuinely likes people, which means people usually like Alice—and she has a whole month to win the legendary woman over.
Two: She’s ready for this job and the chance to impress her perennially unimpressed family with a Serious Publication.
Three: Hayden Anderson, who should have no reason to be concerned about losing this book, is glowering at her in a shaken-to-the core way that suggests he sees her as competition.
But the problem is, Margaret is only giving each of them pieces of her story. Pieces they can’t swap to put together because of an ironclad NDA and an inconvenient yearning pulsing between them every time they’re in the same room.
And it’s becoming abundantly clear that their story—just like the tale Margaret’s spinning—could be a mystery, tragedy, or love ballad . . . depending on who’s telling it. - (Findaway World Llc)
Booklist Reviews
When journalist Alice Scott gets an exclusive invite to interview reclusive heiress Margaret Ives for a proposed biography, she jumps at this career-making opportunity. The only problem? Margaret has also invited Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer Hayden Anderson to hear her story. After spending a month with each applicant, the abrasive octogenarian will decide who will write her book. Unhappy, but willing to make the most of the arrangement, Alice and Hayden begin their respective interviews with Margaret, and despite their different approaches to the story, develop an unlikely friendship—and maybe something more. But when Margaret's reticence gets in the way of the truth, the two find themselves pooling their resources to figure out the real story. Award-winning narrator Whelan captures the grumpy/sunshine dynamic between Alice and Hayden, contrasting Alice's chipper, go-get-'em attitude with Hayden's weary standoffishness. Her Margaret is a brusque woman whose pointed barbs hide decades of pain, recounted by Whelan with journalistic authority in the book's numerous biographical asides. Reminiscent of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo (2017), by Taylor Jenkins Reid, Henry's latest slow-burn romance balances humor and heart, expertly conveyed by Whelan's dynamic narration. Copyright 2025 Booklist Reviews.
