Great Big Beautiful Life

Two writers. One enigmatic heiress. A story that could end as a mystery, a tragedy, or a love ballad, depending on who tells it.

When famously reclusive heiress Margaret Ives invites eternal optimist Alice Scott to the balmy Little Crescent Island, Alice knows this is it: her big break and a rare chance to impress her perennially unimpressed family with a Serious Publication. The only catch? Pulitzer Prize winning human thundercloud Hayden Anderson has received the same invitation.

Margaret, once a tragic tabloid princess and daughter of one of the most scandalous families of the 20th century, offers them a one-month trial: uncover the truth behind her legendary life, and at the end, she’ll choose who will tell her story.

But Margaret is only handing out tantalizing fragments, keeping each writer on a tight leash with an ironclad NDA. And as Alice and Hayden dig deeper, the real story begins to form not just about Margaret, but between the two of them, thanks to a slow-burning attraction that’s as inconvenient as it is undeniable.

Sweeping, witty, and full of twists, Emily Henry’s dazzling new novel is a tale of rivalry, revelation, and the stories we tell—about others and ourselves.