With the evocative power of The Paris Wife and the aching vulnerability of John Irving's books, this is a heady and addictive debut novel set in the present day in which the idyllic lives of a wealthy and glamorous husband and wife are upended when they meet an impressionable and ambitious young woman.
Harry and Madeleine Winslow have been blessed with talent, money, and charm. Harry is an award-winning author on the cusp of greatness, Madeleine a woman of sublime beauty and grace whose elemental goodness and serenity belie a privileged upbringing. Bonded by deep devotion, they share a love that is both envied and adored. The Winslows play host to a coterie of close friends and acolytes eager to bask in their golden radiance, whether they are in their bucolic East Hampton cottage, living abroad in Rome thanks to Harry's writing grant, or in their comfortable Manhattan brownstone. One weekend at the start of the summer season, Harry and Maddy, who are in their early forties, meet Claire and cannot help but be enchanted by her winsome youth, quiet intelligence, and disarming naïveté. Drawn by the Winslows' indescribable magnetism, Claire eagerly falls into their welcoming orbit. But over the course of the summer, reverence transforms into dangerous desire. By Labor Day, it is no longer enough to just be one of their hangers-on.
A story of love, lust, deception, and betrayal told through the omniscient eyes of Maddy's childhood friend Walter, a narrator akin to Nick Carraway in The Great Gatsby, Indiscretion is a juicy, deeply textured novel filled with fascinating true-to-life characters, an irresistibly sensual page-turner that explores having it all—and the consequences of wanting more.
