Beatriz Williams is the master of engrossing family sagas and Under the Stars is no exception. This dual-timeline, dual POV story moves along rapidly with a ribbon of historical fiction entwined with several mysteries and love stories. A great summer beach read!

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballentine for the opportunity to read this ARC.

Told from the voices of three women over nearly a three-hundred-year period, Under the Stars is the story of Winthrop Island, where shipwrecks are the legacy and where the rich and famous retreat for summers, or more, to recover from their hectic lives.
Peppered with excerpts from accounts of the sinking of the Steamship Atlantic in 1846, this story is a story of recovery. Audrey Fisher has been summoned to her famous actress mother’s companion as she dries out enough to act in an important, to her, role. She’s an alcoholic, and Audrey is her only child, and their relationship is as rocky as the New England coast. She’s also a professional chef whose husband has betrayed her professionally and personally.
Audrey merely has to survive on the island where she was born, and then she can deliver her mother to Hollywood, and get on with her life.
Only, there are complications. People who turn up dead. Beloved, estranged, father’s whose dive bar is in dire need of fresh life. And then there are the men.
It’s a wonderful, can’t put down, read, perfect for summer reading on the Cape or any other body of water you choose. You are going to want to swim with these characters!
Under the Stars will be released July 29 by Random House Publishing Group/Ballantine. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a great kick off for Summer 2025.

What a story! I’m not going to lie. It took me awhile to get into it. There are a couple of stories being told with flashbacks and current. One is the story of a shipwreck off Winthrop Island. Then there is the story of Meredith Fisher and her daughter, Audrey. There are so many intertwined lives! But basically it’s a story of family, revisiting your past, and looking at the future.

DNF unfortunately. Too many storylines and characters to keep track of, and bounce back and forth too quickly for me.

Beatriz Williams is a go to author for me. I have read many of her books. I love coming back to Winthrop Island. It is right in my own backyard as I live on Long Island not too far away. It was wonderful meeting some characters from her other books.
This book has an interesting dual time. In the present we meet Meredith Fisher a renowned actress who is recovering from alcoholism. Her daughter Audrey is in charge of her detox. They have come back to Grey Friars the family home. Neither of them have been there for several years. Meredith and Audrey have always had a difficult relationship.
Audrey also has problems as her husband has left her and took everything of value with him. I loved how when Meredith’s films were discussed the titles were from previous books by Beatriz Williams.
The present story goes back and forth between 1993 and 2024.
Meanwhile back in 1846, Prudence Dare boards The steamship Atlantic. She is trying to escape a murder charge for the murder of her employer, Henry Irving, the famous painter. The Atlantic was a steamship built by Cornelius Vanderbilt for transportation for the rich. There was an explosion on the ship leaving it without power. The ship was wrecked near what is known as Fishers Island.
Back in the present time, Audrey finds an old wooden trunk filled with old paintings. Who was the beautiful woman in the painting’s and why were they on Winthrop Island?
This story was beautifully woven together. I enjoyed it very much. I would have liked to have read more about the ship in the story.
Wonderful Historical Fiction
Thank you to Ballantine Books/Random house and Net Galley for this advanced readers copy.

Beatriz Williams will always be one of my absolute favorite authors! This one, like her previous one (Husbands & Lovers), has a little more spice and edge than her older books, but I think it just makes them feel slightly more modern and current with 2025. It's definitely still got historical fiction going on (I love learning about actual historical events while reading novels), but also a handful of love stories as well. This one felt like it had more than her normal amount of perspectives/timelines (it was really 3 with mom/daughter/providence) and I had to concentrate a tiny bit more, but really her writing is just awesome so I enjoyed every minute of being carried through their lives and seeing how they were intertwined. I LOVE that BW always ties in previous characters - SO FUN!! And I loved the nod to her writing pals, the 3Ws.

This was good but don’t know if I would read it again. It deserves 3/5 stars, thank you to NetGalley for a copy of this book to read!

5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ absolutely enjoyed this book! My new favorite from Beatriz Williams 🙌 i simply loved how she weaves characters from previous books and of course being back in Winthrop island is just so special. Same as with her other books, she goes back and forth from past to present and has multiple POVs but it was never confusing and is seamlessly done!

Another great beach read! Meredith Fisher is a famous actress who needs to dry out once and for all to make a comeback. Audrey has tried all her life to escape Meredith's shadow, becoming a chef, marrying and starting a restaurant. Now, her husband left her and all of their problems and debt and Meredith needs a babysitter for the summer sober up. Audrey and Meredith go back to Winthrop Island where Meredith grew up and Audrey's absent dad lives. While Meredith nurses her sobriety every day, Audrey decides to help at the bar her father owns to help pass the time.

Told in a split POV, we also meet Providence Dare as she flees Boston on the Atlantic, a steamship, running from the law after the mysterious death of her employer, artist Henry Irving.

How do these three women come together? A trunk full of never before seen Henry Irving paintings help to bring them together, and maybe to bring Audrey love.

Once again Ms Williams writes a fantastic novel. A story of the history through three generations of women. This is a must read story.

I received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book was a long read, and at first quite confusing to follow along... You will be taken on a journey through a few centuries and towards the end of the novel all things will becone apparent. Was not my favoirte book, but did have some great points.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.25
Lush, layered, and laced with secrets across centuries

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group – Ballantine | Ballantine Books for the ARC of Under the Stars in exchange for an honest review.

This novel is classic Beatriz Williams: dual timelines, generational secrets, and women searching for their place within their family stories. Set against the salt-kissed backdrop of Winthrop Island, Under the Stars blends the emotional weight of a mother-daughter reckoning with the thrill of a historical mystery at sea.

The contemporary timeline follows Audrey, a determined chef trying to navigate her mother Meredith’s chaotic descent from stardom, and Meredith, whose glamorous image masks deep emotional scars. Their return to the island, and the discovery of a long-hidden chest of paintings, sets off a chain of questions tied to the past.

Meanwhile, in 1846, Providence Dare boards the doomed steamship Atlantic in a desperate bid to outrun her past. Her storyline was absolutely gripping, filled with tension, stormy seas, and the lurking threat of exposure. Williams writes the historical chapters with such vivid urgency that I could practically feel the cold spray of the Atlantic as Providence tried to stay one step ahead of the man chasing her.

The threads between past and present come together with elegance, and while some reveals felt a touch predictable, the emotional payoff was still worth it. The exploration of legacy, artistry, and the complicated bonds between mothers and daughters gave the book real heart.

Also: shoutout to the island itself, which feels like a living, breathing character. The setting had just the right amount of windswept beauty and whispered history.

If you enjoy immersive historical fiction with rich female characters, atmospheric detail, and just enough mystery to keep you turning the pages, Under the Stars is a rewarding journey.

Audrey has spent her life in the shadow of her famous mother and has now committed to spending the summer as her caretaker, making sure she detoxes in time to revive her acting career. When they arrive on Winthrop Island Audrey becomes immersed in an historic mystery after finding a painting in an old trunk. The painting is by a famous artist but of a woman that is not identified. As she searches for answers she finds ties to the island, the subject of the painting and a mid-1800's shipwreck that occurred on the island's shore. Williams is a master at tying together numerous timelines and I love how she manages to interweave characters from previous novels. It's just not summer without a Beatriz Williams book to savor.

I received a complimentary copy of this book "Under the Stars" and all opinions expressed are my own. First time reading a book by this author. I just could not get into this story. I didn't find this easy to read.

Audrey Fisher is on Winthrop Island for the summer as she is reasonable for making sure her movie star famous mother, Meredith, dries out. She's a professional chef in piles of debt as her husband left town overnight with their money and a bankrupt restaurant. While on the island, she goes to the only bar restaurant and the kitchen is disgusting. It happens to be owned by her father, who had little role of raising her. The island is near the site of a famous shipwreck in the mid 1800s and the story occasionally reads from an excerpt of a woman on the ship fleeing a murder charge.

It's a bit slow to start but it's immediately interesting. I really enjoyed it and liked at the twists.

5.0 stars
HIGHLY recommend

Wow, what a departure for Beatriz Williams! I loved the characters and how different they were from the visitors to Winthrop Island. This book focuses on the locals of the island. They are real, hardworking folks who are the backbone of service for the visitors. These are blue-collar workers, and it was a nice departure from the upper-crust characters - Beatriz writes both beautifully.

This novel is much more "spicy" with much more sexual content and cursing than in her other books. Yes, she uses MY favorite swear word a lot in this novel.

The writing, character development, and storyline are strong! I like that it is different and more nuanced - there are many levels in this novel, just like an onion. Beatriz slices and dices it!!

This is a stand-alone novel, but if you want more backstory, you can read the other Winthrop Island books.
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/7351299493 - posted 5/31/2025
The StoryGraph: https://app.thestorygraph.com/reviews/6e2b146d-1017-4173-ba2b-8f9fe6fa0d1a?redirect=true - posted 5/31/2025
booksbydorothea Blog: https://booksbydorothea.blogspot.com/2025/05/review-under-stars-earcebook.html- posted 5/31/2025

This historical novel centers around Winthrop Island and is part of a series featuring this locale. I have not read the previous books and yet I felt the story flows well and serves as a stand-alone novel in its own right. The characters are well-developed, and the dynamics of their relationships in storylines bridging two centuries are depth and interest. There is plenty of drama between mother and daughter, an estranged lover (also the father of said daughter) and the distant relative surviving a shipwreck in 1846. The chapters alternate in perspective between the characters and at times I found it frustrating that the jump from one storyline to the other left me wanting to know more immediately rather than wait several chapters later.

Overall, this was an entertaining novel that kept me engaged throughout. As this is my first exposure to this author, I am inclined to seek out the prior novels in this series and look forward to future offerings.

My thanks to the author, the publisher, and NetGalley for the privilege of reviewing this book. The opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

This review is being posted immediately to my GoodReads account and will be posted on Amazon upon publication.

First day of summer break: I get the ARC for Beatriz Williams' new book. WOO-HOO!

We are back on Winthrop Island, and it's summer. There is an authentic shipwreck from the 1800s to contend with, in an addition to romance, family drama, marital woes, celebrities, undiscovered art, and maybe a murder to solve? It's a lot!

I loved it. Perfect for summer, interesting storylines, lots of detail to make me sad that I am not spending my summer off the Long Island Sound, and I cannot recommend it more.

Thank you SO MUCH to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC. Literally opened this an hour after locking my classroom and submitting my grades. It was just what I needed!

I really enjoyed this novel. The novel details the lives of three women, a mother and daughter and a woman who lived in the 1800’s. The relationship between the three women becomes clear by the end of the book. I found that each of the storylines were so interesting that as chapter was ending, I wanted to flip ahead to the next chapter to see how the story unfolds. If you are a Beatriz Williams fan, you will enjoy this novel. I thought it was one of her best. There are some familiar characters that have been in previous novels but you do no need to have read her previous work. I like how there is a thread between a number of her books. This was a great read. Thanks to NetGalley, Ballantine Books and most of all Beatriz Williams for a copy of this novel.

Anddddd this Beatriz Williams becomes an auto-buy for me because two 5 star historical fictions in a row??

In this one, we again have a triple timeline thing going on and it’s set on Winthrop Island, with the main characters being Audrey, daughter of a famous movie star, and Providence Dare, a maid fleeing from a tragic event.

Ok first of all, please give it up for Williams’ mastery of weaving different timelines together and having it actually make sense. It was clear as we got the next part of the story and we were easily able to fit it into the puzzle of questions that we had. Then, in this one, we love the side characters, they really made the story. And… WE GOT A MONK AND MALLORY APPEARANCE!! Lastly, I was just vibes and how I always wanted to know what happened next. Honestly, just being hooked is one of the most important things for me.

I really loved this.

Shoutout to sedge duh