On a poor farm near Starkfield in western Massachusetts, Ethan Frome struggles to wrest a living from the land, unassisted by his whining and hypochondrialcal wife Zeena. When Zeena's young cousin Mattie Silver is left destitute, the only place she can go is Ethan's farm. An embittered man and an enchanting young woman meeting in such circumstances unleash predictable consequences as passions are aroused between the three protagonists.

Margaret and Patrick are newlyweds when they set off on what they hope will be a great adventure - a year living in Kenya. While Patrick practices equatorial medicine, Margaret works as a photojournalist. In a dizzying multicultural city, she quickly realizes there is a great deal she doesn't know about the complex mores of her new home, and about her own husband. A British couple invites Margaret and Patrick to join them on a climbing expedition...

Losing her home when her owner passes away, Prudence the cat is taken in by her former owner's grieving daughter, who maintains a meticulously organized life to avoid the pain of past losses and memories about her dynamic relationship with her mother.

Robert Harlan has three loves in his life: his wife, Allyson; his daughter, Carson; and his writing. When he is unexpectedly laid off from his job, his wife encourages him to pursue his dream of writing. He writes a novel entitled A perfect day, and it becomes a huge success. Robert finds himself swept into a new world far from his wife and his home. In time Robert loses track of the things he loves most--until he meets a stranger who tells him intimate...

Two unconventional women--Meri Fowler, pregnant, newly married, and discovering the gap between reality and expectation, and Delia Naughton, wife of a notoriously unfaithful liberal senator--confront the costs and challenges of love.

The arrival of a "cousin" from mainland China, arranged by Mama Wong to serve as a nanny, throws the household of Carnegie Wong, a second-generation Chinese American, his WASP wife Blondie, and their three children into turmoil.

"An emotional novel about motherhood--about a woman who has never thought she wanted to become a mother, and how she does or does not decide to go ahead and have a child"--

"Comparing her stable marriage to a passionate affair she had twenty-six years earlier, Annabelle feels neglected by her busy husband and cares for her pregnant daughter before an encounter with her past love forces her to question her choices."--NovelList.