by Harriet Lane (Get the Book)Frances Thorpe's life is mundane and wearying. An underappreciated editor on the book-review pages of a weekly periodical, she seems to be going nowhere until late one night she stumbles on a car accident. Stopping to help, she witnesses the final moments of the passenger, Alys Kyte, wife of famous novelist Laurence Kyte. The next thing she knows, she's meeting the family, attending the memorial service, and making inroads into elite literary society. Association with Laurence brings her more respect in her professional and personal spheres, and now that she's had a taste of that privileged world, she plans to get even more. In this debut novel, Lane draws readers into an emotional suspense story of manipulation, attraction, and ambition. Realistic characters create an intriguing contrast between the working and privileged classes of English society. Frances' cool determination to penetrate the latter is, at times, disconcerting, but even though she is not your typical strong female protagonist, her desire to improve her life will strike a chord with many readers. --Booklist
