A Likely Story

The only child of an iconic American novelist discovers a shocking tangle of family secrets that upends everything she thought she knew about her parents,her gilded childhoodand her own stalled writing career in this brilliantly observed standout debut. Growing up in the nineties in New York City as the only child of famous parents was both a blessing and a curse for Isabelle Manning. Her beautiful society hostess motherClaireand New York Times bestselling author fatherWardwere the cityΓÇÖs intellectual It couple. WardΓÇÖs glamorous obligations often took him away from Isabellebut Claire made sure her childhood was always filled with magic and love. Now an adultall Isabelle wants is to be a successful writer like her father but after many false starts and the unexpected death of her mothershe faces her upcoming thirty-fifth birthday alone and on the verge of a breakdown. Her anxiety only skyrockets when she uncovers some shocking truths about her parents and begins wondering if everything she knew about her family was all based on an elaborate lie. Wrywiseand propulsiveA Likely Story is punctuated with fragments of a compulsively readable book-within-a-book about a woman determined to steal back the spotlight from a man who has cheated his way to the top. The characters seem eerily familiar but is the plot based on fact? And more importantlywho is the author?