Thank you PRH Audio for the ALC and Ballantine Books, #partner, for the advanced copy of Under the Stars in exchange for my honest review.
Publisher: Ballantine Books / Random House Audio
Published: July 29, 2025
Summary:
When a daughter and her famous mother return to Winthrop Island to confront their complicated past, they discover a secret trove of paintings that connect them to a mysterious woman who vanished on a luxury steamship two centuries earlier.
From the New York Times bestselling author of Husbands & Lovers comes an epic tale of family legacy, love, and truths that echo down generations.
Audrey Fisher has struggled all her life to emerge from the shadow of her famous mother by forging a career as a world-class chef. Meredith Fisher’s glamorous screen persona disguises the trauma of the tragic accident that haunts her dreams. Neither woman wants to return to the New England island they left behind and its complicated emotional ties, but Meredith has one last chance to sober up and salvage her big comeback, and where else but discreet, moneyed Winthrop Island can a famous actress spend the summer without the intrusion of other people? Until Audrey discovers an old wooden chest among the belongings of her estranged bartender father, Mike Kennedy, and the astonishing contents draw the women deep into Winthrop’s past and its many secrets…attracting the interest of their handsome neighbor, Sedge Peabody. How did a trove of paintings from one of America’s greatest artists wind up in the cellar of the Mohegan Inn? And who is the mysterious woman portrayed on every canvas?
On a stormy November night in 1846, Providence Dare flees Boston and boards the luxury steamship Atlantic one step ahead of the law….or so she believes. But when a catastrophic accident leaves the ship at the mercy of a mighty gale, Providence finds herself trapped in a deadly game of cat and mouse with the one man who knows her real identity—the detective investigating the suspicious death of her employer, the painter Henry Irving. As the Atlantic fights for her life and the rocky shore of Winthrop Island edges closer, a desperate Providence searches for her chance to escape…before the sea swallows her without a trace.
In Under the Stars, the destinies of three women converge across centuries, as a harrowing true disaster at the dawn of the steamship era evokes a complex legacy of family secrets in modern-day New England. Williams has written a timeless epic of mothers and daughters, of love lost and found, and of the truths that echo down generations.
My thoughts:
It’s no surprise that I am incredibly fond of Beatriz Williams and her amazing books. I’ve read almost all of them and I love the way she blends historical fiction with amazing characters and fantastic writing to give you such addicting reads. And best of all is how she always manages to weave in Easter Eggs in all her books.
Once again we find ourselves back on Winthrop Island, where her latest books have been set. I’ve been loving this set of books, with the connection to the setting, and of course seeing some familiar characters that we have come to love make appearances in these newer books while we fall in love with the new set of characters that she has given us. I love that you never have to read her previous books in order to read the new one — these aren’t series, but rather books with characters that pop up again and again…it’s just more enjoyable if you happen to have read them all! And they are so good, why wouldn’t you??
I am always in awe of how the author is able to blend historical fiction with just the right amount of romance — not too much to overtake the story but enough to make it sweet and compelling — family drama and of course suspense. Added all together, you have, in my mind, the perfect summer read.
Here we have three complex, captivating women — Audrey, Meredith and Providence Dare — and I could not get enough of them. Each has such a distinct voice and personality, and I was equally invested in all that they were going through. Each felt so real and unforgettable, all dealing with their own secrets and heartbreak. And in true fashion, the author manages to write time her twists and reveals just perfectly so that you don’t want to stop reading. Her books are so addicting, so bingeable and I cannot recommend them enough!
Audio thoughts:
This was narrated by a full cast — Helen Laser, Xe Sands, Jonathan McClain, Rachel F. Hirsch, Adam Verner, and Will Damron — which made it come alive. Each narrator brought their A-game, bringing such enthusiasm to their part.
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