Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
From the critically acclaimed author of Stepdog and The Fool's Tale comes a romantic comedy that tells the story of one journalist secretly juggling two bylines for competing newspapers on a small island.
Distorting the facts just a little can't hurt--except when falling in love...
Martha's Vineyard has two distinct "personalities"--one characterized by its tanned and polished summer people; the other represented by the small-town, salt-of-the-earth year-round residents. The island even has two newspapers, each appealing to its distinct readership. Over the years, an intense rivalry has grown between the two papers; in fact, neither paper will work with writers who have any relationship to the other paper.
Johanna Howes is a Vineyard girl who left the island at the age of eighteen and never looked back. She went to college on the mainland and moved to the Big City to start a career as a journalist. Now she's returned to take care of her aging Uncle Hank. As neither paper can pay her enough to live on, she creates a false identity so that she can write for both papers at once. Often this means writing the same story twice, coming at it from opposite ends of the spectrum.
Before long, Johanna finds herself caught up in a messy Island political situation. A wealthy, seasonal resident is suing the town government for the right to land his private helicopter on his property. When Johanna agrees to go for a cup of coffee with the handsome man she meets at a zoning board meeting, she has no idea that she has just made a date with Orion Smith, the wealthy off-Islander who is causing all the ruckus. And what he doesn't know is that Johanna has been assigned by both Island papers to cover the story.
Scrambling to keep her various identities straight and separate from each other, Johanna desperately tries to find a graceful way out of the mess she's created. But doing so will likely get her into trouble or cause her to lose her writing gigs...not to mention jeopardize her chance at a budding romance with a man she's doing her best not to fall for.
Synopsis
"N. D. Galland has created a delectable romantic comedy set in her home town of Martha's Vineyard long after the summer crowds have departed. With a satirist's eye and a pitch-perfect ear for the social nuances of small-town life, it's Pride and Prejudice for the Bumble generation."
-- Geraldine Brooks, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of March and The Secret Chord
From the critically acclaimed author of Stepdog and The Fool's Tale comes a romantic comedy that tells the story of one journalist secretly juggling two bylines for competing newspapers on a small island.
One island, two newspapers, and the reporter who played them both
Joanna Howes is a Martha's Vineyard native who left the Island at eighteen and moved to New York City to become a writer. Now in her thirties, she reluctantly returns to care for her cranky, injured uncle. Needing income, she freelances for one island newspaper (the one Uncle Hank likes). But that doesn't cover her bills, so she creates an alter ego to write for the rival paper (the one Uncle Hank doesn't like).
The Vineyard has a split personality - part elite summer resort, part working-class small town. The Island's two papers -the Journal and the Newes - are famously at odds with each other and reflect the seasonal schism in their reporting. Everybody's shoulder seems to have a chip on it.
Joanna gets personally ensnared in a messy situation she's assigned to write about for both papers: a wealthy seasonal resident sues the town for the right to use his private helicopter. When Johanna agrees to a cup of coffee with the witty, handsome stranger she meets at a zoning board meeting, she has no idea she's made a date with Orion Smith, helicopter owner. Orion, meanwhile, doesn't realize Joanna is the niece of his political nemesis, Henry Holmes.
Joanna scrambles to keep her disparate identities separate from each other in the tiny off-season community, but everything she does just gets her into deeper trouble...and further complicates her budding romance with the exasperating charmer she's doing her best not to fall for.
A story about the half-truths we tell ourselves - and others - especially when our hearts are on the line.
"The most exciting story of skullduggery, intrigue and drama on Martha's Vineyard since the last time Alan Dershowitz was snubbed at a cocktail party."
-- Peter Sagal, Host of NPR's "Wait, Wait...Don't Tell Me " and author of The Incomplete Book of Running
" A] gem of a novel. . . . this rollicking rom-com unfolds on Martha's Vineyard, which has spun its own share of fables. Quick, somebody call Hollywood. This one is ready for the big screen."
-- Bob Drogin, author of Curveball: Spies, Lies and the Con Man Who Caused a War
--Peter Sagal, Host of NPR's Wait, Wait...Don't Tell Me " and author of
The Incomplete Book of Running