This long-lost novel captures the emotional rhythms of suburban Los Angeles in the early 1970s as five couples experience the throes of middle-class disaffection. Due to unrest, revelation, and disaster, all are compelled to reconsider the choices they’ve made in this riveting and resonant novel.

Original material © 2005 Leonard Stegman. Published by arrangement with Scribner, and imprint of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

Maritta Wolff (1918-2002) wrote seven novels during her lifetime. Her first, Whistle Stop, was published in 1941 when she was just 22; it won rave reviews, the Avery Hopwood Award, and praise from Sinclair Lewis. Five vibrantly raw best-sellers followed. By the time she wrote her seventh novel, Wolff was fed up with the publishing world. She stored the completed manuscript for Sudden Rain in her refrigerator, where it remained for 30 years.