In Wonderland

A Novel

De: Joyce Maynard

Narrado por: Joyce Maynard

In one golden summer, Frances trades her working-class world for an elite Maine lakeside estate—where privilege and betrayal turn into a deadly game.

Frances believes she’s found a ticket to paradise when a wealthy couple hires her for the summer as their mother’s helper at their lakefront summer home in Maine. The vintage wooden boats, the days at the country club, a shiny new bicycle, and a tennis racquet—suddenly Frances has everything her modest childhood lacked. Best of all, she gets to spend the summer with Forrest Emerson, her father's charismatic childhood friend who escaped their neighborhood when he married into money.

But below the glittering surface of Lake Catherine, nothing is what it seems. When Forrest’s wife, Regina, pulls Frances into her private obsession, the girl finds herself witness to the intimate secrets of adult lives. As the summer heat builds, so do the tensions within Wonderland’s walls. By Labor Day, a death will shatter the seemingly perfect family, leaving Frances to question everything she thought she knew about privilege, power, and the price of belonging.

© 2026 by Joyce Maynard. ℗ 2026 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

How it captures and keeps your attention

So many women have lived this teen childhood! An ode to life and childhood and how we all grow into adults!

Another great Joyce Maynard book

I thought this was a great story ! Read it very quickly. Very realistic and kept my interest throughout !!

One of My Favorite Audiobooks this year

I loved this audiobook from beginning to end. Joyce Maynard’s writing is vivid and engaging, and hearing her narrate the story herself made it even more personal. I became deeply invested in the characters and couldn’t wait to see how their lives unfolded. I correctly guessed a few of the twists along the way, but there were still plenty of surprises that kept me listening. While the ending wasn’t exactly the one I had hoped for, it felt honest and true to the story. I was genuinely sorry when it ended and found myself thinking about the characters long afterward. I highly recommend this audiobook.

Teenage tale

I can’t finish this book. It’s a teenage tale about a young 14 year old and her perspective of adults. And she falls in love with her father’s best friend. Hard to listen to her pinning away for a man whose kids she’s babysitting. I feel like I read this book already as a teenager. There are too many good books out there to waste anymore time reading this one. Further the author reads this book and her voice is older than a teenage girl. It’s all wrong.