"Japan, 1957. Seventeen-year-old Naoko Nakamura's prearranged marriage to the son of her father's business associate would secure her family's status in their traditional Japanese community, but Naoko has fallen for another man -- an American sailor, a gaijin -- and to marry him would bring great shame upon her entire family. When it's learned Naoko carries the sailor's child, she's cast out in disgrace and forced to make unimaginable choices with...

In Kabul, Mustafa, a handsome waiter, charms a pretty law student named Wajma. The pair begins a relationship, ever mindful of the societal rules that forbid intimacy. After Wajma discovers she is pregnant and Mustafa refuses to commit to marriage, she is left to face the terrifying consequences of their actions on her own.

By 1755, Louis XV, weary of court formalities and dramas, has become a "connoisseur of innocence," so his valet de chambre procures untouched teenage girls for his pleasures. Believing she'll be entering domestic service, pretty, lower-class Véronique Roux arrives near the Versailles palace at a house where she is instructed in the courtesan's arts. Her patron's identity is kept concealed, and Véronique loses access to their daughter, Marie-Louise,...

The author shares the stories of unknown women who played significant roles in the lives of prominent figures, including a mistress shared by the second Lord Grimthorpe and the Prince of Wales (Alice Keppel), a creative muse of Auguste Rodin (Eve Fairfax), and a novelist lover of Vita Sackville-West (Violet Trefusis). He also reflects on himself as investigator and biographer.

The Wedding singer: Robbie, a singer, and Julia, a waitress, are both engaged, but to the wrong people. Fortune intervenes to help them discover each other. Going the distance: A romantic comedy centered on a guy and a gal who try to keep their love alive as they shuttle back and forth between New York and San Francisco to see one another. Home fries: Pregnant Sally unknowingly falls for the stepson of the deceased father of her baby and has to...