Belva Plain

Belva Plain's many New York Times best-selling novels, including Promises, are beloved by her fans for their ability to convey bittersweet tales of the heart. Looking Back follows the intertwined lives of three bright young women. Cecile is a beautiful child of privilege; Amanda is ambitious but poor; Norma is the academic star, yet the least self-assured. They are inseparable at college. And when the three classmates graduate and move into careers...

Cassie Wright, owner of Wright Glassworks, takes in one year old Gwen after a tragic accident and raises her as her own. Jewel Fairbanks enters the lives of Cassie and Gwen. Jewel envies Gwen. Both Jewel and Gwen marry. Jewel marries a shrewd businessman and Gwen an honest hardworking man who works for the company that Jewel's husband owns.

What happens when the picture-perfect marriage dissolves? In her unsparing evocation of a family in crisis, Belva Plain goes to the heart of a marriage between a naive young artist and her handsome physician husband. At first, everything is idyllic. Then one terrible night she commits an act she will regret for the rest of her life. An act that gives her husband the ultimate weapon: blackmail. The price of his silence is uncontested custody of their...

Perceptive chronicles of contemporary family life, they have captivated wide audiences. In Promises, she portrays the devastating impact of an extramarital affair. Margaret and Adam Crane are happy with their professional careers, their three young children, and their home. But when a woman from Adam's past suddenly appears, she ignites desires that threaten to consume the very fabric of his marriage. In the resulting emotional and financial chaos,...