Honeysuckle Season

The novel opens in 1994 in a New Jersey hospital, where an elderly Olivia sits beside her dying friend, later revealed to be Sadie Thompson. Sadie urges Olivia not to carry her secret to the grave, but Olivia resolves to hold it, believing it served its purpose.

The story shifts to June 2020 in Bluestone, Virginia. Libby McKenzie, a 31-year-old wedding photographer, has returned to her hometown after three miscarriages, a divorce from her husband Jeremy, and the recent death of her father, Dr. Allen McKenzie, the town's longtime pediatrician. Her best friend, Sierra Mancuso, has also returned home after losing her husband to cancer. Libby lives in her late father's house but sleeps on the couch, unable to face the rooms that hold too many memories.

Libby photographs the first wedding at the Woodmont Estate, a historic property built by the Carter family in the eighteenth century and now owned by Elaine Grant, the family's current descendant. Colton Reese, the estate manager and the bride's brother, helps Libby navigate a sudden rainstorm during the outdoor ceremony. At the reception, Jeremy arrives to tell Libby he is remarrying and his fiancée is weeks from giving birth. Before Libby leaves, Elaine invites her to return to discuss photographing the property for a potential event venue.

Interwoven with Libby's story is the tale of Sadie Thompson, a 15-year-old from a poor Bluestone family. On Christmas Eve 1941, Sadie and her older brother Johnny deliver moonshine to the Woodmont Estate. Their father has died, and Johnny has just enlisted in the army, leaving Sadie and their mother to manage the farm alone. At Woodmont, they meet Dr. Edward Carter; his new English wife, Olivia; and Edward's cousin Malcolm Carter. Edward, who was injured during the London Blitz while studying at Oxford, hires Sadie as Olivia's driver.

When Libby returns to tour the property, Colton leads her to a domed glass greenhouse sealed for over 30 years. Elaine explains that Edward built it in 1941 as a wedding gift for Olivia, replicating a greenhouse Olivia's family lost during the Blitz, the sustained German bombing campaign against Britain during World War II. Inside, Libby photographs the overgrown space and notices "Sadie, 1942" etched into a glass pane. Elaine says Sadie was a local girl who worked for her grandmother and has since passed away. She invites Libby to photograph the entire restoration.

In 1942, Sadie begins driving Olivia around the county. Olivia asks Sadie to teach her to drive in secret, and their friendship deepens as Olivia confides her loneliness and fears about disappointing Edward. When Sadie drives Olivia to the hospital in Lynchburg where Edward volunteers, she witnesses a terrified young woman being dragged inside. Edward dismisses the scene, claiming the woman has an intellectual disability and they are helping her. The facility is the Lynchburg Training School and Hospital, where women deemed unfit were forcibly sterilized.

At a dinner at Woodmont, Libby meets Colton's young sons and learns his wife died of a brain aneurysm two years earlier. She feels a growing attraction to him. Elaine reveals she knew Libby's father and once worked in his medical practice. After everyone leaves, Margaret Reese, Colton's mother and the estate's longtime housekeeper, sits on her porch reflecting that Libby's return will be good for everyone. She mutters that if there is justice, Dr. Carter is burning in hell.

One rainy day, Olivia insists on driving and the car skids off the road. They switch seats to hide the truth from Edward. That night, Olivia loses her baby. Sheriff Boyd bans Sadie from Woodmont, threatening that further trouble could land her in the Lynchburg hospital. Weeks later, at a local dance, Malcolm plies Sadie with spiked punch, lures her to his car, and rapes her, threatening her into silence.

Libby and Colton grow closer, and one night they sleep together in the greenhouse. Elaine discloses that she has stage-three breast cancer and is awaiting results on whether the disease is in remission. At a Sunday dinner, Elaine's daughter Lofton, a 27-year-old lawyer, is hostile toward Libby, questioning her presence. That night, Libby discovers two files in her father's desk. One holds a letter from Olivia Carter addressed "My Dear Girl," written when Libby was hours old. The letter explains that Libby's mother was too young to raise her. Libby realizes Elaine is her birth mother.

In October 1942, Olivia discovers Sadie is seven months pregnant and learns Malcolm raped her. She promises to hide Sadie until the baby is born. Olivia drives to confront Edward, confessing she was the one driving during the accident. When she asks him to summon Malcolm, he grows suspicious. In a chilling exchange, he implies that if Olivia becomes troublesome, she could end up in the hospital herself.

Libby confronts Elaine, who confirms she is Libby's birth mother. Edward had participated in sterilizing women at the Lynchburg hospital, and Olivia feared he would shun Elaine for becoming pregnant out of wedlock, so she arranged the adoption, sending Elaine to live with an old friend in New Jersey during the pregnancy. Dr. McKenzie adopted the baby. Lofton arrives during the confrontation, revealing she had suspected the truth after noticing "second child" on her own birth certificate.

Later, Libby drives to Elaine's home near Washington, DC, and demands to know her biological father's identity. Elaine reveals it was Dr. Allen McKenzie himself. He and Elaine had a single encounter at Woodmont while his wife was struggling with a mental health condition. When Elaine told him about the pregnancy, he asked to adopt the baby. Libby realizes her adoptive mother likely knew the truth, which explains why she brought Libby to visit Woodmont each year.

On Christmas Eve 1942, Sadie gives birth to a girl but cannot bond with the child. Three months later, Malcolm taunts her in town, and she deliberately runs him down with her truck. He survives but is badly injured. Sadie flees into the woods, evading Sheriff Boyd. That night, Olivia drugs Edward with laudanum, an opiate sedative, finds Sadie on the road, and drives her to the Charlottesville train station with money for a ticket to Washington. Sadie returns her mother's savings to Olivia and asks her to care for the baby.

Libby spends the summer away from Bluestone, then returns to discover she is pregnant from her night with Colton. He arrives at her door with news that Lofton has been arrested after crashing her car drunk; she had been throwing rocks at the greenhouse, furious over Elaine's plan to give Woodmont to Libby. Libby tells Colton about the pregnancy and her connection to Elaine, and he is supportive. At the hospital, Libby and Lofton begin finding a grudging rapport, and Libby promises to advocate for shared ownership. Elaine agrees to give Libby 51 percent and Lofton 49 percent.

Margaret reveals that Sadie Thompson was her mother and Malcolm Carter her biological father. Olivia threatened to leave Edward if anyone harmed Sadie's mother or the baby, and she hired Margaret's grandmother as a nurse for the Carters' son Stuart, so Margaret grew up at Woodmont. Sadie rode the train to New Jersey, found factory work, earned a degree, and became a teacher. When Elaine became pregnant decades later, Olivia sent her to live with Sadie, the same friend from the novel's opening scene.

The 1994 hospital scene returns: Sadie lies dying with Olivia and Margaret at her bedside. Olivia tells Sadie the greenhouse is closed but her name remains carved in the glass.

In the epilogue, set in February 2021, Libby gives birth to a daughter, Sadie McKenzie Reese. Libby and Colton married in the greenhouse the previous December, with Elaine, her husband Ted, Lofton, and Margaret present. Libby asks Colton to send Elaine and Margaret in to meet their granddaughter.