"In 1486, Orsola Rosso is the eldest daughter in a family of glassblowers in Murano, Italy. As a woman, she is not meant to blow glass--but when her father dies, she teaches herself to make beads in secret, and her work becomes the cornerstone of the Rosso family fortunes. Skipping like a stone through the centuries, we follow Orsola and her family as they live through creative triumph and heartbreaking loss, from a plague rearing its head over Venice...

In 1987, the only Black person in all Swift River after her Pop disappeared seven years ago, Diamond Newberry, receiving a letter from a relative she’s never met, is introduced to two generations of African American Newberry women, gaining a sense of her place in the world and in her family.

In 1961, in Dutch countryside, Isabel lives by routine and discipline until her brother leaves his graceless new girlfriend Eva on her doorstep, and as Eva disrespects her house, Isabel develops a fury-fueled obsession that gives way to infatuation, leading to a discovery that unravels all Isabel has ever known.