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A Novel
by Fran Littlewood
From the New York Times bestselling author of Amazing Grace Adams comes a wryly resonant and deeply moving family dramedy investigating the question so many of us have asked ourselves: do my parents have a favorite?
Vivienne and Patrick Fisher have done an excellent job raising their three daughters, Alex, Nancy, and Eva. They're well-adjusted women with impressive careers, caring partners, exciting hobbies, and sweet children. So it's with great anticipation that three generations of Fishers gather at a beautiful glass house in the English countryside for a weeklong celebration of Vivienne's seventieth birthday. But when Patrick's reaction to a freak accident on the first day of the trip inadvertently reveals that he has a favorite daughter, no one is prepared for the shockwaves it sends through the family.
Decades-old unresolved sibling rivalries are suddenly unmasked. And be it newly uncovered smoking habits, ancient crushes, or private doubts about life decisions both big and small, no one's secrets are safe. Still-tender wounds are reopened amid an audience of friends, husbands, grandchildren, and even coworkers, and as the family's past is re-written, they find themselves suddenly unmoored.
In a lively, poignant examination of memory, sisterhood, and family ties, Fran Littlewood reminds us just why it is that people in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.
"The narrative line is complex, moving back and forth in time and among the sisters and their mother, but Littlewood handles it skillfully. Her characters, flawed as they are, are engaging and relatable, and her sense of family dynamics captures all the old wounds, shifting hierarchies, inside jokes, and sturdy if skewed love the sisters share. Even under pressure, sisterhood is powerful in this entertaining and well-crafted novel." —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"Some of the action is a bit stagey, but the sisters' bitterness, judgments, and rivalries feel all too genuine, and the story shifts effortlessly between the present and the sisters' childhoods, culminating in the revelation of a secret that explains Patrick's behavior. The author's fans will find much to love." —Publishers Weekly
"A compelling drama about a dysfunctional family that will make readers laugh out loud and cringe all at once...Littlewood's sharp characters and emotional depth beautifully capture the messy and complicated side of adults' relationships to their families of origin, quirks and all." ―Library Journal
"Littlewood again has her finger on the pulse of the woman on the edge, balancing an impressive cast of characters....Readers will gladly go along on this wild ride." ―Booklist
"Kaleidoscopic....the novel excels in revealing the complicated tangle of sisterly love and resentment and how children internalize events that they don't understand." ―BookPage
"[A] fascinating look at one family and their complicated truths…Every moment feels alive...Full of tender moments and thoughtful insights, The Accidental Favorite will be a favorite of readers, perfect for those with imperfect families—which is to say all of us." —Shelf Awareness
"Fran Littlewood is an expert chronicler of family dynamics, and particularly the complex, competitive, and sparkling nature of sisterhood. Once I picked up The Accidental Favorite, I did not want to put it down until the last page was turned." ―Lottie Hazell, author of Piglet
"A tender story about the corrosive power of secrets and what it means to finally let them go. Littlewood writes with pinpoint accuracy about the dynamics between siblings and the beautiful and terrible mess that is family." ―Daisy Alpert Florin, author of My Last Innocent Year
This information about The Accidental Favorite 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.
Fran Littlewood is the author of Amazing Grace Adams, which was an instant New York Times bestseller and a #ReadWithJenna book club pick. She has an MA in creative writing from Royal Holloway, University of London. Before her MA, she worked as a journalist, including a stint at the Times. She lives in London with her husband and their three daughters.
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