The Writing Desk

Hauck (The Wedding Shop) winningly casts an oft-overlooked desk as a talisman for two aspiring authors. Gifted with the desk in the 1890s, heiress Birdie Shehorn stashes her novels-in-progress inside; more than a century later, Tenley Roth sits before the furniture immobilized by writer's block as her book deadline looms. Both women contend with family legacies bestowing privilege and obligation: Birdie—a "true princess of New York"— dreads the loveless marriage engineered by her parents; Tenley, descended from eminent authors and praised for her debut, fears being unmasked as a hack. As chapters crisscross between Birdie and Tenley, Hauck contrasts the women's faith journeys: Tenley's dawning awareness of comfort from prayer and Scripture, Birdie's longer-held conviction and more mature (though no less spirited) response to trials or injustice. Romance fans will cheer gratifying plot convergences, revelations of piquant secrets, and beguiling depictions of Gilded Age society. Among book clubs, Tenley's solution for her second novel may raise both eyebrows and discussion. Narrator Windy Lanzl smoothly bridges the time shifts, accommodating period-appropriate diction and infusing warmth that enhances the engaging narrative.