The One and Only Vivian Stone: A Second Chance Romance of Old Hollywood Secrets

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo meets The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel in this sweeping dual-timeline novel about old Hollywood secrets and a second chance romance that refuses to stay buried.

When Margot DuBois returns to her late grandmother’s house, she plans to sell it quickly and retreat to the safe, predictable life she’s built, far removed from the writing career that once defined her…and the failure that followed. But in the attic, she finds eight unlabeled cassette tapes. With no way to play them, she turns to the one person she swore she’d never need again—Leo, her first love and first epic heartbreak. He agrees to help on one condition: he gets to listen, too. The voice on the tapes belongs to comedy legend Vivian Stone. Why did she record these and how did Margot’s grandmother get them?

As Vivian’s story unfolds, it traces a dazzling rise through old Hollywood, a forbidden love with the industry’s leading man, and a career fueled by ambition in a misogynistic studio system. But behind the glamour lies a truth she never escaped: a single choice that changed everything. As Margot and Leo are pulled deeper into Vivian’s past, they’re forced to confront their own. Because some stories aren’t meant to stay hidden. And some loves deserve a second chance.

For fans of Taylor Jenkins Reid and Fiona Davis, The One and Only Vivian Stone is a story about the ways our pasts make us who we are and how it’s never too late to start over.

"Intriguing, sparkling with wit, and suspenseful in all the right places." —Abby Jimenez