Critics' Opinion:
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Published Jul 2018
400 pages
Genre: Literary Fiction
Publication Information
New from Cherise Wolas, acclaimed author of The Resurrection of Joan Ashby, this provocative, gorgeously rendered novel reckons with the nature of the stories we tell ourselves and our family and the price we pay for second chances.
Harry Tabor is about to be named Man of the Decade, a distinction that feels like the culmination of a life well lived. Gathering together in Palm Springs for the celebration are his wife, Roma, a distinguished child psychologist, and their children: Phoebe, a high-powered attorney; Camille, a brilliant social anthropologist; and Simon, a big-firm lawyer, who brings his glamorous wife and two young daughters.
But immediately, cracks begin to appear in this smooth facade: Simon hasn't been sleeping through the night, Camille can't decide what to do with her life, and Phoebe is a little too cagey about her new boyfriend. Roma knows her children are hiding things. What she doesn't know, what none of them know, is that Harry is suddenly haunted by the long-buried secret that drove him, decades ago, to relocate his young family to the California desert. As the ceremony nears, the family members are forced to confront the falsehoods upon which their lives are built.
Set over the course of a single weekend, and deftly alternating between the five Tabors, this provocative, gorgeously rendered novel reckons with the nature of the stories we tell ourselves and our family and the price we pay for second chances.
"When you have the most skillfully prepared, decadent dessert placed in front of you, do you plunge in and devour it? Or do you slowly savor it? This is the happy predicament I find myself in when approaching the work of Cherise Wolas... This brilliantly executed novel is filled with secrets, repressed memories, and unforgettable characters under a blazing California sun." - ABA Indie Next Pick List
"Starred Review. Wolas, whose much-acclaimed debut novel, The Resurrection of Joan Ashby, earned countless well-deserved accolades, once again writes with gorgeous intensity about the strata of loving relationships that entwine families in all their messy contradictions that often stubbornly resist transparency, the truth, and resolution. Savor this." - Library Journal
"'The past is not dead. It's not even past,'
wrote William Faulkner. The Family Tabor provides compelling evidence of that truth. Despite its roots in family drama and the mystery that propels its final third, The Family Tabor is, at its heart, a philosophical novel. Wolas poses big questions: What does it mean to live a good life? How can we atone for a serious misdeed? And how do we seek forgiveness when others have been wronged profoundly by our conduct?.." - Shelf Awareness
"The Family Tabor, Wolas' follow-up to her acclaimed The Resurrection of Joan Ashby, is a piercing and multilayered portrayal of an accomplished yet deeply troubled family." - Publishers Weekly
"The Resurrection of Joan Ashby was one of the best of 2017. We're thrilled that she's returning with another novel, about a family that gathers in Southern California over a weekend to celebrate their father being named Man of the Decade. As in all good family dramas, secrets come out when the family unites." - BookPage
"In this follow-up to The Resurrection of Joan Ashby, Wolas' absorbing, multi-starred debut, Harry Tabor's family gathers in Palm Springs to celebrate his being proclaimed Man of the Decade. But son Simon seems troubled, attorney daughter Phoebe is tight-lipped about her boyfriend, and another daughter, Camille, remains uncertain about her path in life. Then there's Harry, hiding a dark secret. Read Ashby if you haven't, then grab this." - Library Journal
Critics & Authors, Barbara's Picks, July 2018
"The premises are not believable and the exposition, tedious and overblown. A disappointment." - Kirkus
"Spanning the brief but extraordinarily eventful 24 hours before and after Harry's celebrity gala, this breathtakingly beautiful story wades through a cacophony of emotions. Experiencing delight, anticipation, warmth, discovery, surprise, questioning, devastation, and hope just as any family may do on any average day. But this is no average day nor is this an average book. The Family Tabor absolutely demands to be on the top of the must-read stack, the head of the book club list, and the front of the staff picks table in every single bookshop." - The Country Bookshop, Southern Pines, NC
"Cherise Wolas is a writer ascending to the top of her game. The Family Tabor outshines even Wolas's spectacular debut." - Turnrow Book Co., Greenwood, MS
"Excellent, simply excellent. With skill and deftness, layer by layer, Wolas peels this family down to its true core, giving readers a truly exceptional reading experience.
Book Clubs must not miss this one!" - Book Vault, Oskaloosa, IA
"Her work stays with me even when the book sits on the nightstand for a few days amid the bustle of a busy life. Wow. Just incredible." - Devaney Doak & Garrett Booksellers, Farmington, ME
"In this compelling story, luck, like love, can be elusive, ever-present and lost. Wolas explores Jewish identity and the connection to the past, with a nod to Leonard Cohen." - The Jewish Week
This information about The Family Tabor was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
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Photo: Michael Dickes
Cherise Wolas's acclaimed first novel, The Resurrection of Joan Ashby, was a New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice and a semi-finalist for the 2018 PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize for Debut Fiction. She lives in New York City with her husband.
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