From Karen Winn, author of Our Little World, comes The Society (Out January 20, 2026), a captivating story of two women whose lives become darkly intertwined with a secret society in the heart of Boston. Join us at Book Love for a seated conversation, Q&A, and book signing.
More About The Society:
Welcome to The Knox, Boston’s most exclusive secret society. Rumors about the Knox and its influence have swirled through Boston for centuries. While some see it merely as an elite social club, others are certain it hides something more sinister. THE SOCIETY centers on the Knox through the eyes of two very different women: Vivian Lawrence, a high-end antiques dealer who grew up in the inner ring of old-money Boston and Taylor Adams, a naïve young nurse at Mass General Hospital who was raised far from Boston’s glittering elite and is eager to reinvent herself.
Vivian is accustomed to a certain lifestyle, but with her mother declining in a nursing home and money growing unsettlingly thin, she turns to an old family legend that ties her to the Knox and its inheritance. As Vivian pursues her connections to the Knox, she becomes charmed by Peter, a devilishly handsome Knox insider, who captivates her in a way that no one has before. But, can this charming yet secretive man be trusted?
Taylor moved to Boston with dreams of sophistication and status, chasing a ghost from her past—her late mother. Reality of life in her new city has been anything but glamorous until one night, an effortlessly elegant patient arrives in her ER. The unknown woman reminds her of her mother: beautiful, stylish, and captivating. But there are puzzling circumstances surrounding her arrival and then, without warning, she disappears overnight.
With hospital pressures mounting alongside a growing sense of discontent, Taylor quits nursing and takes a waitressing job at the Knox. Finally immersed in the world she’s always dreamed of, Taylor soon realizes all that glitters is not gold: her former patient was connected to the Knox—and her “accident” may not have been one at all. The deeper Taylor digs, the clearer it becomes: More so than wealth or status, secrets are The Knox’s currency.
Told in multiple timelines and POVs, including from the historic Knox brownstone itself, THE SOCIETY combines the buttoned-up, limitless power of the Roy family in Succession with Saltburn-level excess. A Boston resident, Winn drew from the true history of the city’s connections to the opium trade and her own experience as a nurse to bring her writing to life. The result is a dark and twisty tale of unimaginable wealth, sordid history, and deadly secrets, all set amid the deceptively charming cobblestone streets of Beacon Hill.