I am not sure where I first hear about this novel – definitely via the internet maybe someone on substack. I borrowed it from the library, so I mustn’t have known much about it (and was a bit loathe to commit to a purchase).
Here’s the blurb …
A mother following her heart
A father with the law on his side
A child caught in the middle
It’s 2022, and Heron, an old man of quiet habits, has just had the sort of visit to the doctor that turns a life upside down. Sharing the diagnosis with Maggie, his only daughter, seems impossible. Heron just can’t find the words to tell her about it, or any of the other things he’s been protecting her from for so long.
It’s 1982, and Dawn is a young wife and mother penned in by the expectations of her time and place. Then Hazel comes into her life like a torch in the dark. It’s the kind of connection that’s impossible to resist, and suddenly Dawn’s world is more joyful, and more complicated, than she ever expected. But Dawn has responsibilities, she has commitments: Dawn has Maggie.
A Family Matter is an immersive and tender debut, at once heart-breaking and hopeful, that asks how we might heal from the wounds of the past, and what we might learn from them.
This had an interesting chapter structure – short and split into sections. I was compelled to keep reading. We have two time periods – 1980s and contemporary, and three major characters – Heron, Dawn and Maggie. Maggie has some great thoughts about being a mother and wife and all of the tasks involved.
It is a beautifully written story – heart break, wit, prejudice, and outrage (mine). And all within recent memory.
A review