A spellbinding debut about a widow who is finally ready to reveal a past she's never spoken of—the story of the three great loves who shaped her life

It’s 1984 and Lenore has just buried her husband. In the long summer days of her grief, she receives an unexpected letter from a woman named Phoebe. As girls, Phoebe and Lenore were best friends, raised by their mothers amid the California orchards. Decades of estrangement followed—and could end now, if Lenore can only bring herself to read the letter.

Spurred to look backward, Lenore revisits the memories of her life’s three great loves: First, she must admit to herself, Phoebe. Then Greta, a brash and bohemian New York painter. And finally Howard, a classicist who shared Lenore’s passion for voices of the past, and who went on to a successful academic career with Lenore’s quiet support over years of marriage. Each relationship has its own unique pleasures, risks, sacrifices.  

Moving across the turbulent twentieth century, from the rugged landscapes of northern California to bustling postwar Manhattan, this heartrending and immersive debut explores the complex ties of family, friendship, and romance. The Plum Queen is about confronting the many versions of ourselves that accumulate over a lifetime—the person we once were, the person we could have been, and the person we still might become.