“Big Little Lies” Meets “Lessons In Chemistry ”in“ Behind White Picket Fences ”— See the Cover! (Exclusive)

Fans of mystery, tales of motherhood and friendship, and stories told across generations — Christine Gunderson's latest novel may be for you.

PEOPLE is sharing an exclusive first look at the cover of Gunderson's forthcoming book, Behind White Picket Fences. A follow-up to her 2024 novel Friends with Secrets, Behind White Picket Fences follows a dual timeline set between the 1960s and the present.

"Fusing page-turning suspense with keenly observed humor, this homage to female friendship explores the hamster wheel of modern motherhood, and the consequences for jumping off," according to the book's official synopsis.

The novel follows Kiersten Cleaver — who "feels like she’s flunking Motherhood 101."

"Exhausted by travel sports, homework and her son's dyslexia, she joins forces with her neighbors, Rosamund and Piper, to drop out of the scholastic rat race for one year," the synopsis teases.

The trio soon start the Beaverbrook Academy for Inquiring Minds and run it out of the protagonist's kitchen, "embarking on a journey back to the idyllic life they experienced as children, when phones were attached to the wall and kids played outside until the streetlights came on at dusk."

Soon, the women realize they they may have bigger issues at hand than fractions and book reports when they happen upon a 60-year-old diary in Kiersten's basement, which raises "unsettling questions" about their neighborhood, their safety and the seemingly simpler past.

"Their picture-perfect suburb disguises deadly secrets — and someone wants to keep them hidden," the synopsis continues. "As unsettling events rattle their fragile utopia, Kiersten, Rosamund and Piper face an impossible choice. And if they expose the truth, they put everything at risk: their children, their friendship and their newfound community."

Behind White Picket Fences marks Gunderson's sophomore novel, following her debut Friends with Secrets, which also explores motherhood, female friendship and how secrets can haunt a small town.

Gunderson's new work has been compared to both Big Little Lies (which tells the story of how secrets shook a community of moms in a wealthy coastal city) and Lessons in Chemistry, which follows chemist-turned-TV host Elizabeth Zott: "a woman ahead of her time. But exactly right for ours."

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Behind White Picket Fences will hit shelves on June 9 and is available for preorder now, wherever books are sold.