Book excerpt: The masterful author of The Best of Everything takes us through a season of friendship, discovery, betrayal, and love to tell a story of four friends and the events that shaped their futures. New York in 1963 is a place of infinite possibilities, especially when you’re young and eager for the adventure a big city offers. Leigh, Cady, Vanessa, and Susan meet when they become roommates on the Upper East Side. Nothing can diminish the exhilaration of their newfound freedom and independence—even being crammed together in a single bedroom with a kitchen too small for a table and chairs. A casting assistant at a talent agency, Leigh is the level-headed one. Cady is a prep school teacher, emotional, passionate, and ready for love. Vanessa, a stewardess, craves her independence above all else. Susan is the mercurial, difficult one, and after one confrontation too many, makes a choice that will change the course of all their lives… PRAISE FOR RONA JAFFE “Reading Rona Jaffe is like being presented with a Cartier watch: you know exactly what you’re getting and it’s exactly what you want.”—Cosmopolitan “Vivid and trenchant…Wry and very readable…A minor genius.”—New York Times Book Review “Jaffe has not lost her wit, her keen eye for human frailties and her ear for the small but telling remark.”—Publishers Weekly