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The World at Home

A Novel

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Pub Date Dec 09 2025 | Archive Date Sep 06 2025

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Description

For fans of Christina Baker Kline and Fiona Davis, a coming-of-age story about a young woman discovering love, loss, and the power of her own creativity in World War II San Francisco.

San Francisco in 1944 is a bustling place, a revolving door of soldiers and sailors passing through on their way to the war in the Pacific. Twenty-year-old Irene Cleary, however, is not going anywhere. Although she’d love to travel, the seamstress shop she inherited from her mentor keeps her firmly rooted in the only city she’s ever known. She pours her energy into dressmaking and volunteers for the war effort by dancing with servicemen at the USO.

But Irene’s life is transformed when she designs a gown for Cynthia Burke, the socialite whose new marriage to Max, a handsome Chicago businessman, is the talk of the Nob Hill elite. As Irene is drawn into the Burkes’ glamorous, troubled orbit, and as she becomes absorbed in making costumes for the first American performance of a ballet called The Nutcracker, she finds herself on the threshold of exhilarating, perilous new worlds . . . and the most surprising discoveries of all will be the ones about herself.

Set in a vibrant city during a turbulent time, The World at Home is a coming-of-age story about creativity, loss, and the many lessons we learn from love.
For fans of Christina Baker Kline and Fiona Davis, a coming-of-age story about a young woman discovering love, loss, and the power of her own creativity in World War II San Francisco.

San Francisco in...

A Note From the Publisher

GINNY KUBITZ MOYER is a California native with a love of local history. A graduate of Pomona College and Stanford University, she’s the author of the novel THE SEEING GARDEN, which won Silver in the Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Award in Historical Fiction; the novel A GOLDEN LIFE, a Kirkus Reviews Best Indie Book of 2024; and several works of spiritual nonfiction. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her husband, two sons, and one rescue dog.

GINNY KUBITZ MOYER is a California native with a love of local history. A graduate of Pomona College and Stanford University, she’s the author of the novel THE SEEING GARDEN, which won Silver in the...


Advance Praise

“The novel captures the unique beauty and diversity of San Francisco…Irene, Moyer’s likeable narrator, ably conveys her coming-of-age experiences in a voice that alternates between poignancy and exuberance…An engaging homefront war novel….”—KIRKUS REVIEWS

“One of those perfect books that you long to return to….I never wanted it to end.”—Michelle Cox, author of The Fallen Woman's Daughter

“Beautifully crafted, poignant, and engaging…. There is an innocence to this novel that will at once shatter your heart and give wings to hope. Oh, to be 20 again. I loved this book.”—Ashley E. Sweeney, author of The Irish Girl

“Moyer brings wartime San Francisco to life in a coming-of-age story packed with romance, temptation, and a flash of mystery….during one of the most complex adrenaline-fueled moments in American history.”—Meghan K. Winchell, author of Good Girls, Good Food, Good Fun: The Story of USO Hostesses during World War II


“The novel captures the unique beauty and diversity of San Francisco…Irene, Moyer’s likeable narrator, ably conveys her coming-of-age experiences in a voice that alternates between poignancy and...


Available Editions

EDITION Paperback
ISBN 9798896360186
PRICE $17.99 (USD)
PAGES 344

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