Behind White Picket Fences

Fusing page-turning suspense with keenly observed humor, this homage to female friendship explores the hamster wheel of modern motherhood, and the consequences for jumping off.

Kiersten Cleaver feels like she's flunking Motherhood 101. Exhausted by travel sports, homework, and her son's dyslexia, she joins forces with her neighbors, Rosamund and Piper, to drop out of the scholastic rat race for one year.

Together, they start the Beaverbrook Academy for Inquiring Minds in Kiersten's kitchen, embarking on a journey back to the idyllic life they experienced as children, when phones were attached to the wall and kids played outside until the streetlights came on at dusk.

But the women quickly realize fractions aren't their only problem. A sixty-year-old diary discovered in Kiersten's basement raises unsettling questions about their neighborhood, their safety, and the seemingly simpler past.

Their picture-perfect suburb disguises deadly secrets--and someone wants to keep them hidden. As unsettling events rattle their fragile utopia, Kiersten, Rosamund, and Piper face an impossible choice. And if they expose the truth, they put everything at risk: their children, their friendship, and their newfound community.

Christine Gunderson grew up on a fourth-generation family farm in rural North Dakota where she read Laura Ingalls Wilder books in her very own little house on the prairie. She's a former television anchor and reporter and former Capitol Hill press secretary. Her debut novel, Friends with Secrets, was an Amazon bestseller, an Amazon First Reads pick, and a Women's Fiction Writers Association STAR Award winner.

She currently lives in the Washington, DC, suburbs with her three children, Star the Wonder Dog, and a very patient husband. When not writing, she's sailing the Chesapeake Bay with her family, playing Star Wars Monopoly, rereading Jane Austen novels in the school pickup line, or unloading the dishwasher. Christine loves to hear thoughts and ideas from readers or, best of all, delightful emails telling her that you laughed out loud while reading this book. You can reach her at www.christinegunderson.com.