Husbands & Lovers

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Two women—separated by decades and continents, and united by an exotic family heirloom—reclaim secrets and lost loves in this sweeping novel from the New York Times bestselling author of The Summer Wives.

New England, 2022. Three years ago, single mother Mallory Dunne received the telephone call every parent dreads—her ten-year-old son, Sam, had been airlifted from summer camp with acute poisoning from a toxic death cap mushroom, leaving him fighting for his life. Now, searching for the donor kidney that will give her son a chance for a normal life, Mallory’s forced to confront two harrowing secrets from her past: her mother’s adoption from an infamous Irish orphanage in 1952, and her own all-consuming summer romance fourteen years earlier with her childhood best friend, Monk Adams— one of the world’s most beloved singer-songwriters—a fairy tale cut short by a devastating betrayal.

Cairo, 1951. After suffering tragedy beyond comprehension in the war, Hungarian refugee Hannah Ainsworth has forged a respectable new life for herself—marriage to a wealthy British diplomat with a coveted posting in glamorous Cairo. But a fateful encounter with the enigmatic manager of a hotel bristling with spies leads to a passionate affair that will reawaken Hannah’s longing for everything she once lost. As revolution simmers in the Egyptian streets, a pregnant Hannah finds herself snared in a game of intrigue between two men . . . and an act of sacrifice that will echo down the generations.

Timeless and bittersweet, Husbands & Lovers takes readers on an unforgettable journey of heartbreak and redemption, from the revolutionary fires of midcentury Egypt to the moneyed beaches of contemporary New England. Acclaimed author Beatriz Williams has written a poignant and beautifully voiced novel of deeply human characters entangled by morally complex issues—of privilege, class, and the female experience—inside worlds brought shimmeringly to life.“I loved Husbands & Lovers and devoured it in one delicious gulp. I was so invested in Mallory and Monk. It’s my favorite kind of page-turner—unputdownable!”—Martha Hall Kelly, New York Times bestselling author of Lilac Girls

“In the latest work by historical fiction master storyteller Beatriz Williams, two timelines breathlessly intertwine to form a tale full of passion, hope, and heartbreaking family secrets. As much a poignant and intimate examination of the human heart as a globe-trotting sweep of decades and wide-reaching locales, this one packs the sultry and stunning punch that readers of Williams have come to relish. You will feel the salty ocean air of Winthrop summer nights as you read, as well as the furious white heat of the roiling Cairo streets—and you’ll savor every page of it.”—Allison Pataki, New York Times bestselling author of The Magnificent Lives of Marjorie PostBeatriz Williams is the New York Times and internationally bestselling author of nineteen novels, including four novels in collaboration with bestselling authors Karen White and Lauren Willig. She is a graduate of Stanford University with an MBA in finance from Columbia University. Williams has won numerous awards for her novels, which have been translated into more than a dozen languages. She lives near the Connecticut shore with her husband and four children.US

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