Husbands and lovers

New England, 2022. Three years ago, single mother and artist Mallory Dunne experienced her worst nightmare - her son Sam was poisoned by a green toadstool at summer camp. He hasn't died, but he desperately needs a new kidney to lead a normal life. In her search for suitable donors among her relatives, Mallory stumbles upon unexpected information: her mother was adopted from an Irish orphanage in 1952. But that is far from the only secret that is coming to light. Among other things, there is Mallory's long-ago summer romance with Monk Adams, her childhood best friend, interrupted by an unexpected betrayal.
Cairo, 1951. Hannah Ainsworth, a woman with a mysterious past, builds a new life as the wife of a British diplomat after all the losses and hardships of war. Amidst the British elite in colonial Cairo, she meets the charismatic deputy hotel manager who rescues her after a cobra attack. The love affair that ignites between them awakens in her a longing for life and for everything she has lost. As the streets of Cairo boil over and the political situation in Egypt escalates into violent riots that could easily sweep everything away like a house of cards, Hannah is pregnant with an illegitimate child and finds herself caught between two men on different sides...
A gripping narrative, masterfully linking two timelines, showing how some personal decisions can affect several generations. Acclaimed bestselling author Beatriz Williams delivers a timeless, unforgettable story with deeply drawn characters who face morally and humanly complex situations and never give up on life.

It is published in the translation of Michaela Ponocná.