There’s something irresistible about a family that looks perfect on television—and is quietly falling apart behind the scenes. In Meet the Newmans, Jennifer Niven pulls back the studio curtains on America’s favorite fictional TV family and delivers a glittering, emotionally rich novel about fame, feminism, and the fragile myth of perfection.

Lights, Camera… Cracks in the Façade

Set in Los Angeles in 1964, the story follows Del and Dinah Newman and their two sons, Guy and Shep—television royalty for over twenty years. Week after week, viewers tune in to see their polished, black-and-white lives. But off-screen? The seams are splitting.

The 1960s are shifting the cultural ground beneath them. Ratings are plummeting. Secrets are festering. The All-American image feels outdated in a world growing louder, freer, and more complicated.

When Del is involved in a mysterious car accident, Dinah steps into the spotlight in a way she never has before. Determined to shape the show’s final episode, she hires Juliet Dunne, a sharp and outspoken young reporter. What follows is more than a collaboration—it’s a generational clash about womanhood, ambition, marriage, and identity in a rapidly changing America.

💄 Dinah Newman: The Beating Heart of the Story

Dinah is the novel’s quiet revelation. For years, she has mastered the art of being the “perfect wife” and “perfect mother”—on-screen and off. But as her carefully controlled world unravels, she begins to ask the most dangerous question of all: What do I want?

Niven crafts Dinah with tenderness and nuance. She’s not loud in her rebellion, but her evolution is powerful. Watching her step out from behind her husband’s shadow feels intimate and triumphant.

Jennifer Niven

Glamour Meets Grit

The novel captures the golden age of television with delicious nostalgia—studio lights, tailored dresses, polished smiles—but never romanticizes it. Beneath the glamour lies pressure, performance, and silence.

Each member of the Newman family is layered and deeply human:

• Del, guarding explosive secrets
• Guy, hiding his truth in a conservative era
• Shep, spiraling beneath his rock ‘n’ roll persona

Their unraveling feels authentic, never melodramatic. The writing “thrums with energy,” as praised by Jennie Godfrey, and the emotional beats land with satisfying weight.

Feminism, Family & Finding Your Voice

What elevates Meet the Newmans is its subtle yet sharp feminist undercurrent. The novel doesn’t preach—it reveals. Through Dinah and Juliet’s contrasting worldviews, Niven explores what it meant to be a woman in 1964, standing at the crossroads between tradition and liberation.

Fans of smart, character-driven stories like Lessons in Chemistry and The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo will feel right at home here. Like those novels, Meet the Newmans blends fame and femininity with emotional depth and a compelling sense of time and place.

Meet the Newmans is glamorous yet grounded, nostalgic yet sharply relevant. It’s a story about the cost of perfection—and the courage it takes to let it fall out of style.

Engaging, warm, and quietly powerful, this is one of Jennifer Niven’s most emotionally resonant works. Once you meet the Newmans, you won’t forget them.