Before Anyone Else follows Bailey who, for being an interior designers for upscale restaurant, is not nearly as good at designing her own life. Follow her across New York’s glamorous culinary landscape as she experiences a shocking betrayal that changes her life forever.

As a designer of upscale restaurants, 30-year-old Bailey Ann Edgeworth can go into an empty space and immediately see what it would take to transform it into a beautiful and memorable spot. She learns transforming her own life is another proposition entirely. It can get messy and it doesn’t always go according to a neat blueprint. Bailey’s brother, Henry, and his best friend Griffin are stars in the restaurant field. They are known as the ‘Colour Wheel Boys’ because of their renowned Buckhead restaurants Vert, Blanc, and Noir. Bailey is determined to chart her own course; to not be forever known as Hank’s daughter, Henry’s sister, or whatever she is to Griffin. Bailey’s dreams propel her to New York where her vision garners accolades and fame.

After a perceived rejection by Griffin, she rushes into an impetuous marriage with an enigmatic English chef. Their combined charisma and desire lift them to the top of the culinary world. Just when she seems on the verge of having it all, a shocking betrayal throws Bailey’s world into chaos. She begins a spectacular downfall complete with secretive drug use, shady associates, and her career in turmoil. Just what are the secret ingredients to transforming food, a dilapidated building, and one’s own life into something extraordinary? Before Anyone Else examines the complicated relationship between love and ambition and explores how our earliest relationships and experience, shape us into who we ultimately become.

‘a beautiful book.’- Kevin Wilson, New York Times bestselling author of Nothing to See Here and The Family Fang

‘Romantic and deeply moving, Before Anyone Else by Leslie Hooton, is a curl-up-on-the-couch debut novel that keeps the fire burning and the pages turning.’ - Lisa Barr, award-winning author of Fugitive Colors