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A Novel
by Claire Lynch
A highly anticipated, exquisite debut novel about a family torn apart by secrets and their own best intentions.
1982. Dawn is a young mother, still adjusting to life with her husband, when Hazel lights up her world like a torch in the dark. Theirs is the kind of connection that's impossible to resist, and suddenly life is more complicated, and more joyful, than Dawn ever expected. But she has responsibilities and commitments. She has a daughter.
2022. Heron has just received news from his doctor that turns everything upside down. He's an older man, stuck in the habits of a quiet existence. Telling Maggie, his only child—the person around whom his life has revolved—seems impossible. Heron can't tell her about his diagnosis, just as he can't reveal all the other secrets he's been keeping from her for so many years.
A Family Matter is a heartbreaking and hopeful exploration of love and loss, intimacy and injustice, custody and care, and whether it is possible to heal from the wounds of the past in the changed world of today.
Nero Book Awards, 2026
"An affecting exploration of the shelf life of love." —Kirkus Reviews
"Poignant... a story of hope and healing from a talented writer." —Booklist
"Lynch's debut burns like a sparkler, quick and mesmerizing." —New York Times
"Stunning... A fast-paced, quickly consuming read that interrogates what happens when we follow rules designed to oppress rather than protect." —USA Today
"I was so moved and humbled by this beautifully crafted novel that I held it in my hands after finishing for a moment of thanks. In frank and straightforward prose, A Family Matter captures the heart-gripping consequences of forbidden love and reminds us that while the world is far from perfect there are among us decent people who are trying, little by little, to make it better." —Mary Beth Keane, author of Ask Again, Yes
"I smiled. I cried. I raged. Claire Lynch has written an un-put-downable novel, and I want everyone to read it. Lynch takes part of our recent history of shame and stigma, and makes it real and beautiful and moving and challenging. Every page sings out with empathy and love, pain and honesty. And the writing - so precise, so deceptively simple, so beautiful in its tiny moments—makes the pages speed by. This book will make you look differently at the world." —Emilie Pine, author of Notes to Self
This information about A Family Matter 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.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Claire Lynch has a doctorate from the University of Oxford and is a professor of English and creative writing. Her work has appeared in The Washington Post and on BBC Radio. She lives in Windsor, England, with her wife and three daughters.
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