Before she signed up for the mommy role, Ellie Fuller was a stand-up comic, a good best friend, and a secret bulimic. As part of her recovery she adopts a whole new lifestyle, but when she takes a knowing step into unknown territory, that recovery and everything else is suddenly in jeopardy. At the Park Avenue preschool where Ellie takes her daughter, she meets Missy Hanover, an elegant ice princess who tempts her with what Ellie believes she might be missing. Ellie is quickly in the midst of a secret affair and darker romantic entangle-ments, but the cracks begin to show. The Playgroup is a skillful, addictive first novel that feeds right into the frenzy for 'mommy' fiction.