Like Family

After a near-stranger dies in their small town,a tightknit group of friends can no longer ignore their long-dormant desires and unfulfilled dreamsΓÇöa moving debut about the complicated joys of chosen family. ΓÇ£Like Family is so warmjoyfulsmartand nuanced. Its depictions of friendship and middle age and marriage and the beautiful messiness of life feel familiar in the best waysbut also fresh in the best ways. I absolutely love this novel and canΓÇÖt wait to share it with everyone I know.ΓÇ¥ΓÇöCurtis Sittenfeldbestselling author of Show DonΓÇÖt Tell It was too much to ask. But sometimes too much is what we ask of the people we love most. RadclyffeNew Yorkis an idyllic upstate townnestled in the hills and complete with artisanal bakeriespottery studiosand hidden swimming holes. Ruth and her wifeWynare living the dream (or WynΓÇÖs dreamat least) with their four children on their small farmwhich is also the bucolic gathering place for their circle of friends. ItΓÇÖs a sweet lifebut thereΓÇÖs a secret at its centerone that not even RuthΓÇÖs best friendCarolineknows. What Caroline does know is that she loves and depends on Ruthand on the bond between their families. More than anythingshe wants her tender-hearted son not to grow up lonely the way she did. Unfortunatelyno one can assure her of thatespecially not her husband. He just wants things to be easydrama-freeΓÇöwhich is impossibleas he has donated his sperm to his cousin Tobi and her wife so that they could have kids of their own. Now those children are asking unanswerable questions. After an unexpected death in their communityall three couples are forced to confront the tensions that have long been buried beneath the surfaces of their lives. Richly textured and big-heartedthis exhilarating debut is an unforgettable story of the alchemy of love and loyalty that makes friends Like Family.