Book excerpt: This classic novel by New York Times bestselling author Nancy Thayer deftly and movingly explores the ebb and flow of love, fulfillment, and change for a mother and her two grown daughters. Margaret Wallace is a woman transformed. After thirty years of marriage and living in a small Iowa town, Margaret has divorced and relocated to Vancouver. While once she was the quintessential housewife and community caregiver, she now relishes the delicious freedom of being beholden to no one but herself. Her days are spent as she chooses, her mind continually occupied and expanding. But her sudden, dramatic change mystifies her two daughters, who need her now more than ever. Margaret’s elder daughter, Daisy, with two kids and another on the way, is content to be absorbed in the daily domestic tasks and maternal love that her children need. So when her husband demands a divorce, Daisy is devastated and adrift, stunned to find herself a single parent. Daisy’s younger sister, Dale, is freshly back from Europe, living and teaching in coastal Maine. She has suddenly, passionately fallen in love—but is terrified that the budding romance could end just as suddenly as her mother’s and sister’s have. As these three women face dramatic changes, their own relationships with each other will be challenged and reborn as they navigate uncharted waters. Includes a captivating excerpt of Nancy Thayer’s novel Nantucket Sisters! Praise for the novels of Nancy Thayer “The queen of beach books.”—The Star-Ledger “Thayer has a deep and masterly understanding of love and friendship, of where the two complement and where they collide.”—Elin Hilderbrand “Thayer’s gift for reaching the emotional core of her characters [is] captivating.”—Houston Chronicle “One of my favorite writers.”—Susan Wiggs “Thayer portrays beautifully the small moments, inside stories and shared histories that build families.”—The Miami Herald “Thayer’s sense of place is powerful, and her words are hung together the way my grandmother used to tat lace.”—Dorothea Benton Frank