The year is 1911 when 20-year-old heiress Peggy Batternberg is invited to spend the summer in America’s Playground. The invitation to Coney Island is unwelcome. Despite hailing from one of America’s richest families, Peggy would much rather spend the summer working at the Moonrise Bookstore than keeping up appearances with New York City socialites and her snobbish, controlling family. 

But soon, it transpires that the hedonism of Coney Island affords Peggy the freedom she has been yearning for, and it’s not long before she finds herself in love with a troubled pier-side artist of humble means, whom the Batternberg patriarchs would surely disapprove of. 

Disapprove they may, but hidden behind their pomposity lurks a web of deceit, betrayal, and deadly secrets. And as bodies begin to mount up amidst the sweltering clamor of Coney Island, it seems the powerful Batternbergs can get away with anything...even murder. 

Extravagant, intoxicating, and thumping with suspense, best-selling Nancy Bilyeau’s magnificent Dreamland is a story of corruption, class, and dangerous obsession.

Praise for the book:

"Achingly believable." (Publishers Weekly)

"This fast-paced, engrossing novel from Bilyeau...gives readers an up-close and personal view of New York’s Gilded Age." (Library Journal)

"Beautifully written and impeccably researched, Dreamland is a rollicking ride." (Fiona Davis, best-selling author of The Chelsea Girls)

"A marvelous book!" (Ellen Marie Wiseman, best-selling author of What She Left Behind and The Life She Was Given)