a magical transformation takes place in danielle steels luminous new novel strangers become roommates roommates become friends and friends become a family in a turnofthecentury house in manhattans west village the plumbing was prone to leaks the furniture rescued from garage sales and every square inch was being devotedly restored to its original splendoreven as a relationship fell to pieces now francesca thayer newly separated from her lawyer boyfriend todd is desperate the owner of a struggling art gallery and suddenly the sole mortgage payer on her greenwich village townhouse francesca does the math and then the unimaginable she puts out an advertisement for boarders soon her house becomes a whole new worldfirst comes eileen a fresh pretty la transplant now a new york city schoolteacher then theres chris a young father struggling with a troubled exwife and the challenge of parenting a sevenyearold son who visits every other weekend the final tenant is marya a celebrated cookbook author hoping to start a new chapter in her life after the death of her husband as francescas art gallery begins to find its footing and todd moves on to another woman she discovers that her accidental tenants have become the most important people in her life as the roommates bond and the house fills with the aroma of maryas exquisite cuisine there are shadows as well as light nave eileen explores the precarious boundaries of online dating with a series of strangers chriss custody fight for his son escalates to devastating levels marya faces an unexpected choice that will take her into untested waters and francesca herself will contemplate what had seemed impossible opening her heart once moreover the course of one amazing unforgettable ultimately lifechanging year the house at 44 charles street fills with laughter heartbreak and always hope in the hands of master storyteller danielle steel its a place those who visit will never want to leave