Book Description

A “sparkling” novel of love and loss from the bestselling author of Kitchen Yarns, “one of the best young writers in the world of contemporary fiction” (Booklist). Libby Harper, unsatisfied with her suburban life, abandons Massachusetts, her two teenage children, and Tom, her husband of eighteen years. Depressed and feeling trapped, she is determined to realize her fantasies of Hollywood fame before it is too late. Dana has been expecting her mother to walk out for years. Her older brother, Troy, who is always in trouble, has been struggling to get his mother’s attention for most of his life. But it is Tom, their father, who is hit the hardest. Once, he and Libby were the most beautiful couple in town. Rudderless without the woman he has loved since ninth grade, he is a man drowning when Renata Handy enters their lives. Renata has left Manhattan behind to return home with her terminally ill eight-year-old daughter. She finds an unexpected haven with Tom Harper, her high-school crush—and his shattered family. A Literary Guild selection, Places to Stay the Night is a story of the dreams we leave behind . . . and the ways we can find ourselves again.