Chaucer’s Books will host local author Marianne Dougherty for a book talk and signing of her novel  “What We Remember,” 6 p.m. Wednesday, March 13, at 3321 State St., Santa Barbara.

“What We Remember” is about four young wives and mothers who find comfort in friendship. Then life begins to unravel. In the aftermath of tragedy, they go their separate ways.

Alice embarks on a spiritual journey; Nina starts painting to work through her grief; Theresa is left to deal with the repercussions of an acrimonious divorce.

And Charlotte? She’s harboring a secret that could jeopardize the perfect life she has worked so hard to create.

Twenty years later when Charlotte is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, she asks her daughter to arrange a reunion with her old friends in Cape May, New Jersey, where they rekindle their friendship, remembering that they were their best selves when they were together.

An award-winning writer and beauty editor, Dougherty lives in Santa Barbara, where she is on the faculty of the Santa Barbara Writers Conference.

She has appeared on Live in L.A., Lifetime’s New Attitudes, Weekend Today and Pittsburgh Today Live. In 2018 and 2022, she was a finalist for a Golden Quill Award for journalistic excellence.