Good Reads - Fiction

Family Ties: Novels about Family Relationships

F/BINGHAM
Bingham, Sallie - Matron of Honor - 186p., 1994
Preparations for Apple Mason's wedding run smoothly until older sister Cory returns home unexpectedly. Cory, who married young to escape her sheltered homelife, finds herself in a loveless marriage and fears Apple is making the same mistake.

F/CLEMENT
Clement, Mickey - The Irish Princess - 254p., 1994
The Malloys, a close-knit Irish Catholic family of five brothers and a sister, are grown and raising families of their own in the 1960's in upstate New York. While facing the accidental death of a sibling and another's early death to cancer, the family still maintains strong religious faith, love of family, and loyalty into the next generation and the new challenges it must face.

F/DELINSKY
Delinsky, Barbara - For My Daughters - 290p., 1994
Virginia St. Clair sends each of her three daughters a letter requesting her help settling into her new home in Maine. Growing up, none of them felt especially close to their mother, who had little time or concern for them. Reluctantly, each daughter puts her own life on hold to make the trip, thinking that this might be her last chance for a mother-daughter relationship.

F/DURBAN
Durban, Pam - The Laughing Place - 344p., 1993
Young, recently widowed, Annie Vess returns home to South Carolina when her father dies suddenly. Annie discovers that the father she respected and loved dearly led a life of deception both in his business and home. Even though she knew the truth, Annie's mother kept up pretenses to maintain social appearances. Annie must accept the past, forgive her parents for the secrets they kept, and finally come to terms with her husband's accidental death in order to go on with her own life.

F/FRENCH
French, Marilyn - Our Father - 450p., 1994
As Stephen Upton lies in the hospital after a severe stroke, his four daughters await his recovery or death. Since all the sisters had different mothers and were raised apart, each developed a distinctive personality along with preconceived notions about the other siblings. Now, each finds a common bond, as they learn to accept and love each other. Together they work to cope with the anger and resentment they have all felt towards their father.

F/GIBBONS
Gibbons, Kaye - Charms for the Easy Life - 254p., 1993
Three generations of women share the same grit and determination that shape their lives. Grandmother Charlie Kate practices herbal medicine without formal training in rural North Carolina. Her daughter Sophia's only ambition is to catch the right husband and maintain her appearance. Margaret, reaching young adulthood during World War II, finds herself caught in between the strong wills of both her mother and grandmother who often disagree on what is best for her.

F/HAMILTON
Hamilton, Jane - A Map of the World - 390p., 1994
Alice Goodwin lives an idyllic life with her husband, Howard, and two young daughters, Emma and Claire, on a dairy farm in Wisconsin. Tragedy strikes when, while under Alice's care, a neighbor's toddler drowns in a pond on the farm. In a daze of guilt and grief and unable to defend herself, Alice is accused of child molestation. With Alice in jail awaiting trial, Howard, ostracized by the community, must do all he can to keep the family together.

F/HOFFMAN
Hoffman, Alice - Second Nature - 254p., 1994
The only survivor of a plane crash, three-year-old Stephen was found and raised by a pack of wolves. Now a young man, Stephen is accidentally caught in a hunter's trap and returned to civilization against his will. Believing him unable to communicate, hospital authorities make arrangements to transfer him to a state mental ward. Stephen approaches a complete stranger, Robin Moore, and asks her to rescue him. Estranged from her husband, Robin sympathizes with Stephen's situation and sneaks him out of the hospital. Living with Robin and her teenage son forces Stephen to learn about civilization, as he struggles to be accepted.

F/LEAVITT
Leavitt, Caroline - Into Thin Air - 309p., 1993
Lee Archer has a history of escaping problems rather than facing them. At eighteen, she elopes instead of coping with her mother's death and father's hasty remarriage. A year later, unable to deal with motherhood, she abandons her baby daughter and husband, leaving the hospital without any explanation. Seven years later, she confronts her young daughter and husband and is shocked to realize that their lives have gone on without her. This is not only Lee's story, but that of those affected by her disappearance.

F/LEWIS
Lewis, Sara - Heart Conditions - 276p., 1994
Alice Hammond allows people to take advantage of her and works unselfishly to please them. Her boyfriend Nick ends their five-year relationship by long distance phone call and tells her to move out of the apartment before he returns. A shocked Alice doesn't tell Nick or anyone else that she is pregnant. Unable to find an apartment in crowded New York, Alice moves in with her demanding grandmother who unexpectedly supports Alice in her decision to keep the baby. In taking care of the elderly woman, Alice begins to understand herself.

F/MICKLE
Mickle, Shelley Fraser - Replacing Dad - 246p., 1993
Grade school principal George Marsh leaves wife Linda and their three children for his daughter's fourth-grade teacher. Desiring to help their mother find happiness again, the children play matchmaker. In alternate chapters, Linda and her fifteen-year-old son Drew give an often humorous glimpse into how the family copes with divorce.

F/MILLER
Miller, Sue - For Love - 301p., 1993
Lottie Gardner, her brother Cameron, and their former neighbor Elizabeth spend a summer in their hometown of Cambridge, Massachusetts. Elizabeth, unhappily married, begins an affair with Cameron, who never forgot their high school romance. While packing up her mother's home, suffering a mid-life crisis, Lottie must look back at her own failed marriage, as well as to the future and her recent remarriage. Then, a senseless tragedy forces all three characters to examine the things they have done and will do for love.

F/OWEN
Owen, Howard - Littlejohn - 209p., 1992
Widower Littlejohn McCain, an eighty-two-year-old North Carolina farmer, sees no point in living since he is a burden to his family. Unable to commit suicide, he sits out in the August midday sun waiting for heatstroke to overcome him and reviews his surprisingly eventful and even tragic life.

F/SHAPIRO
Shapiro, Jane - After Moondog - 323p., 1992
Hopelessly in love, Joanne and William Green begin married life immediately after graduation from college. They move to a house in the suburbs, have two children, and after ten years of marriage find that they are no longer happy. Even after they divorce, they are never really separated, since their children and later their aged parents keep their lives intertwined. Realistic portrayal of the joys and sorrows of a modern marriage from the Vietnam years to the Ronald Reagan era.

F/SINCLAIR
Sinclair, April - Coffee Will Make You Black - 239p., 1994
Black teenager, Jean "Stevie" Stevenson, grows up on Chicago's south side during the Civil Rights movement. Her mother is tough on her and expects a lot, since she wants more for Stevie than cleaning houses the rest of her life. Stevie just wants to fit in and have friends, but her mother prevents her from doing the things that the popular kids do. During her high school years, Stevie comes to terms with being black and confronts prejudice in both blacks and whites.

F/THAYER
Thayer, Nancy - Family Secrets - 338p., 1993
A contemporary story of three generations of women all facing a crossroads in their lives. The recently widowed grandmother, Jean White, now has the opportunity to return to Europe where she was a war correspondent before she was married. Granddaughter Julia, a senior at a prestigious academy, is willing to risk her future when she drops out of high school and moves in with her college boyfriend. Diane, caught in between the problems of her mother and her daughter, juggles a successful career and tries to put a spark in her own stale marriage. The relationships the women share grow, and the bonds become stronger as they make decisions about the future.

F/TROLLOPE
Trollope, Joanna - The Men and the Girls - 248p., 1992
Longtime friends, now in their sixties, James Mallow and Hugh Hunter are each happily involved with women who are twenty-five years younger. Though never married, James and Kate have together for years raised her fourteen-year-old daughter. Married, Hugh and Julia are the parents of six-year-old twin boys. As the women experience peaks in their own careers during midlife, the men are being forced into retirement. This witty contemporary story, set in England, explores how the couples overcome the generation gap.

Prepared by Marianne Trautvetter, December 1994