Elly, Sable, Barbara Ann and Beth. They have been drawn together by the sudden death of their friend Gabby—and the favor she has asked of them. For these four women, whose own lives have become unhappy works of fiction, a summer sorting through Gabby's personal papers offers the perfect challenge—and the perfect escape. ELLY—the intellectual spinster who's hidden herself within the Walls of academia, afraid to admit that she's tired of being alone SABLE—her bestselling novels have made her a star, but the woman who has everything in fact has nothing except a past she's desperate to hide BARBARA ANN—the talent behind twenty-six romance novels, who wakes up one day to find she's lost control of her career, her sanity and her family BETH—her popular mysteries have become the only way she can fight back against the secret tyranny of her abusive husband In the house on Olive Street, away from their menagerie of troubles, these