In a small Midwestern city, the Museum of Art faces an existential crisis. As its trustees scramble to save the institution from financial ruin, three intertwined stories unfold that will transform both the museum and the lives of those connected to it. Charlotte Malveaux returns home after 35 years, no longer the troubled boy named Charleston who fled town as a teenager, but a sophisticated woman grappling with terminal illness. Her reappearance stuns her childhood friends Candace Worth and Vinson Larkin, who must reconcile their memories of Charleston with the dignified but dying Charlotte before them. Charlotte carries a secret - her brother Calvin, who recently passed away, spent decades assembling an extraordinary collection of American Western art that could save the struggling museum. But first Charlotte must decide if she can trust her old friends to help her make one final, deeply personal choice. Mrs. Etta Stern, the museum's elegant patroness, guards secrets of her own. For decades she has crafted a narrative about escaping Nazi Germany with priceless artworks, establishing herself as a respected collector and donor. But when her estranged daughter Nora threatens to expose the true origins of her collection, Etta must confront her carefully constructed past. Her friendship with Daisy, an earnest young museum docent hungry to learn about art, forces Etta to question whether preserving beauty can justify concealing truth. Meanwhile, the museum's trustees wage internal battles as competing factions emerge: Georgia Chase, the determined fundraiser searching for salvation through wealthy donors; the Lopez-Cabrerras, mysterious new board members with shadowy motives; Francie Newton, a realtor scheming to convert the museum into luxury condos; and the imperious General Wood, whose military bearing masks dubious credentials. As a massive tornado bears down on the museum, their machinations collide with devastating and darkly comic results.

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• Nonfiction

• Publication Date: May 15, 2025
• Text-to-Speech: Disabled
• Lending: Disabled
• Print Length: 386 Pages
• File Size: 37 KB