By Invitation Only: A Funny Lowcountry Family Story Where Southern Farmers Meet Chicago Elite Amid Class Differences

By Invitation Only begins in the Lowcountry of South Carolina at a barbecue engagement party hosted by Diane English Stiftel, her brother Floyd, and their parents to celebrate her son's engagement. The bride's father, Alejandro Cambria, is a wealthy Chicago private equity executive, while the bride's mother, Susan Kennedy Cambria, works in public relations and lives in a multimillion-dollar penthouse. The story then moves to Chicago, where a second engagement party is held for Diane's son Fred and Shelby Cambria, an only child. The Cambrias support their daughter's choice to marry Fred, though Susan worries about social perceptions. Diane, meanwhile, fears losing her son to this unfamiliar world. The novel contrasts two families: Southern peach farmers and Chicago's elite. It explores their differences through limousines and pickup trucks, caviars and pigs, skyscrapers and ocean spray. As the story unfolds, legal disputes, a fall from grace, and unexpected twists reveal truths about the characters. The narrative examines whether they are living the lives they want, what regrets they carry, and how they might remake themselves if given the chance.