Charleston: A Novel

This debut novel is a haunting love story of reunited childhood sweethearts in high society Charleston, which asks if we can ever go home again. When Eliza Poinset left the elegant world of upper crust Charleston, South Carolina for college, she expected she would one day return, settle back into society, and marry her childhood sweetheart, Henry. But life has a way of undoing even our best laid plans, and now, several years out of grad school, Eliza is an art historian living in London, engaged to her English, impeccably posh fiance, Jamie, a pedigreed Etonian. She's managed, with effort, to put Charleston-and Henry-out of her mind, when, at a wedding in the English countryside, she feels a tap on her back and turns around to find none other than Henry himself. Already unnerved by their encounter, Eliza's carefully guarded equilibrium is further unbalanced by Henry's hold on her when she has to return to Charleston for her sister's debut. There, amidst the palmettos and formal gardens, the saline air and the avenues lined with elegant colonial homes, the past's claim on Eliza rushes back in full force. Torn between her life and new love waiting for her in London, and the love she still has for Henry, Eliza must decide if she can reconcile herself to past injuries and what kind of future she truly wants moving forward. Charleston is a deeply affecting love story, not only between two people but also between a person and a place. With intelligence, grace, and keenly felt emotion, it conjures both Eliza's love affair with Henry and her love for Charleston itself, asking if we can ever truly return to a place-and the people who inhabit it-we've left behind, and if "home" is a place, a person, or a memory, or some combination of the three, elusive and always, just beyond reach.