Kathleen Tessaro Books

A secret history of scent, memory and desire from the Sunday Times bestselling author of ELEGANCE and THE DEBUTANTE.

The stunning new novel from the New York Times bestselling author of The Perfume Collector. 'Beautifully written... wonderfully absorbing with a clever twist in the tale' Isabel Wolff, author of Ghostwritten Mae Fanning seizes on a job at a tiny, exclusive Boston antiques shop as the fresh start she desperately needs. It opens a window to new world, one peopled with rare and rich characters. But the day that enigmatic socialite Diana van der Laar walks in, Mae's hidden past returns. As a moth to a flame, Mae is unable to resist Diana's heady, seductive glamour and glittering life. Yet, like the rare objects in the shop, very little is what it appears - Diana included. Moving from Jazz-Age New York to Boston in the grip of the Great Depression, Rare Objects is a rich and gripping story of what it means to reach for a braver, bolder life.

Working for her aunt's auction house, artist Cate is sent to Devon to appraise the contents of Endsleigh, the grand Georgian home of a former socialite. Cate quickly becomes immersed in solving the mystery of Baby Blythe, the most famous debutante of her generation.

It is 1986, and eighteen-year-old aspiring actress Evie leaves Eden, Ohio, to study theater in London, England. Almost immediately she falls in with new female chums Imogen (born-again Laura Ashley poster child, frustrated virgin) and Robbie (gorgeous wild-child bohemian, far from virginal). The world is thrilling and new, and anything is possible ... until love intervenes. It is 2001, and Evie's a single mother teaching drama to night students. Robbie is dead, killed in a car accident. And Evie is doing her level best to forget the past, the lost opportunities, and the dreams that exploded ... until an old friendship comes back to haunt her. Literally

"It's a long way from Eden, Ohio to London. Eighteen-year-old Evie leaves her hometown for the first time to come to England and follow her dream of being an actress. With fellow students Imogene and Robbie, she studies drama - and life. Her friendship with the bohemian, outrageous Robbie illuminates her new world. Together, anything is possible. But then life, and love - in the shape of struggling rock musician Jake Albery - intervene, and everything changes. Fifteen years later, Evie is a single mother, teaching drama and living with the eccentric Bunny in her house of artistic lodgers. Robbie's gone. And Evie is trying to forget the post and dreams they once shared. Then an old friendship comes to haunt her - literally. And suddenly everything is possible again ..

Out-of-work actor Hughie Venables-Smythe has found a profitable new outlet for his talents. He is hired, often by distraught husbands, to flirt with wives who are feeling neglected in their relationships. His current seductive campaign is focused on Olivia, the spouse of a narcissistic billionaire, and the lady is responding quite nicely to the cream-colored missives he secretly leaves for her. So nicely, in fact, that Hughie decides to employ a similar technique and shockingly similar messages in his pursuit of his own hearts desire: the aloof and charming lingerie designer, Leticia. But the canny, professional flirts brazen anonymous intrusions into the lives of two women are about to set in motion a series of remarkable events that no one could have anticipated setting the stage for shocking revelations about love, friendship, and domestic bliss.