Whitney Monroe is fighting to save the restaurant she built from a hostile takeover when an unlikely inheritance from her mother—a decaying Gilded Age hotel on the Outer Banks—changes everything. The Excelsior may be her best, and perhaps only, chance to raise the money she needs. But the aging hotel holds more complications than Whitney ever imagined.
Her estranged stepfather has claimed the third floor as his refuge, while a determined group of tenants refuses to let the historic building fall into the hands of developers. As Whitney sorts through decades of forgotten family belongings in search of something valuable enough to save her business, she uncovers an old necklace and the traces of a Great Depression–era love story. Her search for a way forward soon becomes a journey into the past, where the stories of the women who came before her may hold the key to understanding her own family—and discovering what is truly worth saving.
Lisa Wingate is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Before We Were Yours, which remained on the NYT list for more than two years and has sold over three million copies. She has written more than 30 novels and co-authored the nonfiction Before and After with journalist Judy Christie. Her books have been translated into over forty languages and have appeared on bestseller lists worldwide.
Lisa is a Goodreads Choice Award winner, an Oklahoma Book Award finalist, and a Southern Book Prize winner. Americans for More Civility, a kindness watchdog organization, selected Lisa as a recipient of the National Civics Award, which celebrates public figures who work to promote greater kindness and civility in American life. Booklist summed up her work by saying, "Lisa Wingate is, quite simply, a master storyteller."
Lisa was inspired to become a writer by a first-grade teacher who said she expected to see Lisa's name in a magazine one day. She also entertained childhood dreams of being an Olympic gymnast and winning the National Finals Rodeo but was stalled by a mental block against backflips on the balance beam and by parents who stubbornly refused to finance a rodeo career. She was lucky enough to come from a clan filled with tall tale enthusiasts who never let the truth get in the way of a good story. Lisa lives in Texas with her family and her cuddly teddy bear of a dog, Huckleberry.
One of her favorite things about being a writer is connecting with people, both real and imaginary. Find out more at lisawingate.com. Or follow her on Facebook at LisaWingateAuthorPage, or on Instagram @author_lisa_wingate.