Nell Bane is a ghostwriter. When she begins to suspect that her high-powered and high-minded client, David Kernow, isnt quite who he projects himself to be, she begins to unwind his story and finds that her ethics--and possibly her life--are in jeopardy.

Prentice and Arabella Eton, an elderly couple deeply-committed to their philanthropic interests, want to leave a legacy to their great-grandchildren that is more than financial. The Etons want the heirs to understand their family roots and heritage and to appreciate the stewardship that their inherited wealth will demand. The couple hires ghostwriter Nell Bane to write a double memoir that tells the individual and joint stories of husband and wife. When the Etons present the finished memoir to the great-grandchildren, they request Nell's presence and Nell finds herself mediating the...

Nell Bane takes her ghostwriting skills to western Massachusetts to help Daniel Shirley write a memoir. Shirley believes he was the last person born in the Swift River Valley before it was drowned to create the Quabbin Reservoir, and he maintains that his life has been marked by this distinction. As Nell writes, she is drawn into the sad and amazing history of the Quabbin project that shifted the residents of Prescott, Dana, Greenwich and Enfield out of their homes in the beautiful Swift River Valley so the land could be flooded to create a water supply for Boston, eighty-three miles to the...

In her eighth decade, and feeling compelled to comment on what "she got out of it all," Nancy Parsons offers this collection of casual essays. It's a mixed dish of memoir, social comment, and rant, loosely organized around the subject of aging, and seasoned with a healthy helping of humor. With the right attitude, growing older is an adventure. It would be a shame to miss it.