16 Lighthouse Road

Judge Olivia Lockheart sits on the bench in Cedar Cove, a small town where people know each other's business. When Cecilia and Ian Randal ask her for a divorce, she decides the young couple have not tried hard enough to save their marriage, and she denies the petition. The ruling sets the town talking.

Olivia's daughter Justine faces a decision of her own. She has been waiting for love, and now she has to weigh whether to give up on that and accept a marriage of convenience.

Olivia's best friend, Grace, has worries at home. Her husband, Dan, has grown more distant, and she begins to suspect that he is having an affair. In a town this size, secrets do not stay hidden for long.

This is the first look at Cedar Cove through several households at once, so the story moves between the courtroom, family kitchens and friendships. It is a warm small-town women's fiction read, built on marriages under strain, friendship and local gossip, with a gentle, community-minded tone.