The Shampoo Effect

A juicy family story, but make it about a friend group instead: nepo baby and wannabe novelist Caroline impulsively quit her job to get out of NYC—and out of her bestselling novelist mother’s shadow. She accepts a writer’s residency in tiny Greenhead, Massachusetts, where she falls for local science nerd Van and falls in with his close-knit friend group as well. But when Van’s ex-girlfriend Bailey finds out she’s pregnant with Van’s baby, it leads to a breakup and destroys the long-established interpersonal dynamics amongst the friends. Caroline deals with her pain by turning it into art—with disastrous and far-reaching consequences. This dishy drama is pleasantly sharp on class, money, and the costs and benefits of decades-long friendships. For fans of Jackson’s Pineapple Street and Elin Hilderbrand’s Swan Song.