Amanda Keeler has clawed her way out of the backwaters of Ohio and into the affections of Julien Evans, New York's newspaper magnate. With his ex-wife vanquished, she reigns over their Fifth Avenue mansion, throwing martini-soaked parties and climbing the bestseller list with her wildly successful (ghostwritten) novels.To those back home, Amanda has it all. Behind the glittering façade, however, she's grown restless - denied the human right to flirt by her pathologically jealous husband. When a timid school friend arrives in the city, Amanda seizes the perfect alibi, landing little Vicky a job and leasing her a studio which she plans to use in secret for trysts with old flame, Ken. But desire rarely follows orders. Vicky falls fatally for Ken, and soon the three are flung off course into a volatile love triangle that threatens to topple Amanda's carefully constructed empire. Bitingly funny and irresistibly glamorous, A Time to Be Born is a timeless portrait of self-invention, set in a 1940s Manhattan rife with backstabbing charm, brittle friendships and ambitious women with nothing to lose, least of all a heart.