A Fortune of Sand A Novel

By: Ruta Sepetys

Published by Random House, 2026-06-02

The daughter of an automotive magnate escapes to an artistic retreat that holds more secrets—and more intrigue—than she could have ever imagined, in this Prohibition-era novel from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Salt to the Sea.

Detroit, 1927. A city of smoke and ambition, where glittering wealth conceals a graveyard of secrets.

Marjorie Lennox is the youngest daughter of a powerful automotive dynasty, a family known for money, not manners. Artistic, impulsive, and always slightly out of step, Marjorie has long been dismissed by her controlling father and self-absorbed siblings. But when she secretly applies to an exclusive arts program funded by an elusive benefactor, she sees a chance to redefine herself on her own terms.

The building is grand. The participants are gifted. But something…is off.

The program is uncomfortably restrictive. Doors lock at odd hours. Strange sounds echo through the halls amid whispers that women are disappearing. And the handsome benefactor—mostly absent, yet somehow everywhere—begins to unnerve her. As Marjorie’s sense of self begins to slip, so does her grip on the truth. What happens to women who don’t fit neatly into a gilded frame?

Set against the crumbling grandeur of 1920s Detroit and inspired by actual, long-buried historical events, A Fortune of Sand is a haunting mosaic of glamour and grift—a novel about those who vanish, and those who demand to be seen.