From the New York Times best-selling author of Commencement and Maine comes a gorgeous, sprawling novel about marriage—about those who marry in a white heat of passion, those who marry for partnership and comfort, and those who live together, love each other, and have absolutely no intention of ruining it all with a wedding. Evelyn has been married to her husband for forty years—forty years since he slipped off her first wedding ring and put his own in its place. Delphine has seen both sides of love—the ecstatic, glorious highs of seduction, and the bitter, spiteful fury that descends when it’s over. James, a paramedic who works the night shift, knows his wife’s family thinks she could have done better; while Kate, partnered with Dan for a decade, has seen every kind of wedding—beach weddings, backyard weddings, castle weddings—and has vowed never, ever, to have one of her own. As these lives and marriages unfold in surprising ways, we meet Frances Gerety, a young advertising copywriter in 1947. Frances is working on the De Beers campaign and she needs a signature line, so, one night before bed, she scribbles a phrase on a scrap of paper: “A Diamond Is Forever.” And that line changes everything. A rich, layered, exhilarating novel spanning nearly a hundred years, The Engagements captures four wholly unique marriages, while tracing the story of diamonds in America, and the way—for better or for worse—these glittering stones have come to symbolize our deepest hopes for everlasting love.This ebook edition includes a Reading Group Guide. 

THE PERFECT BOOK GROUP SUMMER READ FROM BEST-SELLING AUTHOR OF THE ENGAGEMENTS AND MAINE''I LOVED IT'' Meg Wolitzer, author of The Female Persuasion''HER BEST YET'' Taylor Jenkins Reid, author of Daisy Jones & The Six''A SMART AND DEEPLY COMPELLING EXPLORATION OF FEMALE FRIENDSHIP'' Tom Perrotta, author of The Leftovers''CAPTIVATING, WISE AND LAUGH-OUT-LOUD FUNNY'' Ann Napolitano, author of Dear EdwardElisabeth, an accomplished journalist and new mother, is struggling to adjust to life in a small town after nearly twenty years in New York City. Alone in the house with her infant son all day (and awake with him much of the night), she feels uneasy, adrift. She neglects her work, losing untold hours to her Brooklyn moms'' Facebook group, her "influencer" sister''s Instagram feed, and text messages with the best friend she never sees anymore. Enter Sam, a senior at the local women''s college, whom Elisabeth hires to babysit. Sam is struggling to decide between the path she''s always planned on and a romantic entanglement that threatens her ambition. She''s worried about student loan debt and what the future holds. In short, they grow close. But when Sam finds an unlikely kindred spirit in Elisabeth''s father-in-law, the true differences between the women''s lives become starkly revealed and a betrayal has devastating consequences. A masterful exploration of motherhood, power dynamics, and privilege in its many forms, Friends and Strangers reveals how a single year can shape the course of a life.

From the New York Times best-selling author of Commencement and Maine comes a gorgeous, sprawling novel about marriage—about those who marry in a white heat of passion, those who marry for partnership and comfort, and those who live together, love each other, and have absolutely no intention of ruining it all with a wedding. Evelyn has been married to her husband for forty years—forty years since he slipped off her first wedding ring and put his own in its place. Delphine has seen both sides of love—the ecstatic, glorious highs of seduction, and the bitter, spiteful fury that descends when it’s over. James, a paramedic who works the night shift, knows his wife’s family thinks she could have done better; while Kate, partnered with Dan for a decade, has seen every kind of wedding—beach weddings, backyard weddings, castle weddings—and has vowed never, ever, to have one of her own. As these lives and marriages unfold in surprising ways, we meet Frances Gerety, a young advertising copywriter in 1947. Frances is working on the De Beers campaign and she needs a signature line, so, one night before bed, she scribbles a phrase on a scrap of paper: “A Diamond Is Forever.” And that line changes everything. A rich, layered, exhilarating novel spanning nearly a hundred years, The Engagements captures four wholly unique marriages, while tracing the story of diamonds in America, and the way—for better or for worse—these glittering stones have come to symbolize our deepest hopes for everlasting love.This ebook edition includes a Reading Group Guide. 

THE PERFECT BOOK GROUP SUMMER READ FROM BEST-SELLING AUTHOR OF THE ENGAGEMENTS AND MAINE''I LOVED IT'' Meg Wolitzer, author of The Female Persuasion''HER BEST YET'' Taylor Jenkins Reid, author of Daisy Jones & The Six''A SMART AND DEEPLY COMPELLING EXPLORATION OF FEMALE FRIENDSHIP'' Tom Perrotta, author of The Leftovers''CAPTIVATING, WISE AND LAUGH-OUT-LOUD FUNNY'' Ann Napolitano, author of Dear EdwardElisabeth, an accomplished journalist and new mother, is struggling to adjust to life in a small town after nearly twenty years in New York City. Alone in the house with her infant son all day (and awake with him much of the night), she feels uneasy, adrift. She neglects her work, losing untold hours to her Brooklyn moms'' Facebook group, her "influencer" sister''s Instagram feed, and text messages with the best friend she never sees anymore. Enter Sam, a senior at the local women''s college, whom Elisabeth hires to babysit. Sam is struggling to decide between the path she''s always planned on and a romantic entanglement that threatens her ambition. She''s worried about student loan debt and what the future holds. In short, they grow close. But when Sam finds an unlikely kindred spirit in Elisabeth''s father-in-law, the true differences between the women''s lives become starkly revealed and a betrayal has devastating consequences. A masterful exploration of motherhood, power dynamics, and privilege in its many forms, Friends and Strangers reveals how a single year can shape the course of a life.