A New Year. Five women gather for their first ever Reading Group; each is uncertain, clasping her expectations and fears close to her chest. A New Page. Harriet and Nicole are best friends who find themselves — in different ways — trapped in loveless marriages. And Polly is the epitome of a successful single mum, until a marriage proposal and an unexpected pregnancy threaten to derail her. Susan is the self-elected mother of the group but ironically she's facing the terror of a future without her mother. And finally Clare is a woman consumed by love for the children she is longing — but unable — to have. A New Reading Group. Over the coming year their lives will intertwine in surprising ways. Loves are lost, hearts are broken and worlds are turned upside down, but through it all they have the Reading Group. Where the stories end, real life begins.

What makes a house a home? For Eve Gallagher, home is miles away in England since she and her husband relocated to an apartment building on New York's Upper East Side. And life isn't remotely coming up roses. What makes a neighbour a friend? Violet has lived in the building for decades but she's always kept herself apart.