2 New Family Dramas

by Susan Roberts

I enjoy reading books about families of all kinds. Here are reviews of two family drama books that publish in March that I thought were excellent. You will want to add them to your reading list.

Amazon affiliate links are used on this site. Free books were provided for an honest review.

Tiny Americans by Devin Murphy

March 2019; Harper Perennial; 978-0062856074
audio, ebook, print (256 pages); family life

Tiny Americans is a wonderfully written book is about family - dysfunctional but still family. It's about love and forgiveness and finding yourself in the world. It is told in vignettes by each of the three children in the family over a 40 year time period. The author doesn't explain every little nuance over what is going on in their lives but gives hints and lets the reader use their imagination to fill in the blanks.

The Thurber family is made up of Terrance and Caitrin and their three children, Jamie, Lewis, and Connor. As the parents' drinking escalates, the children began to pull away from their parents to live their own lives even though they still deeply love their parents and hope for a better life. One day, their father just leaves to move out West. As their anger toward their father and their distrust toward their mother grows, all three children head off into different lives. Jamie goes to college and gets married, Lewis joins the Navy and Connor goes to work, gets married and has a son. Even though they try not to look back, their tumultuous childhood has greatly affected the way they live their adult lives. Will these three grown children be able to become a family again despite the upheavals of their childhood years?

This is a beautifully written book with fantastic characters. As the three children struggle to become adults, their struggles were very real and painful. I laughed with them and cried with them and felt their pain and insecurities. I loved the way the book was written and I know that this is a family in literature that I won't soon forget.

Buy Tiny Americans at Amazon

In the Blink of an Eye by Jesse Blackadder

March 2019; St. Martin's Press ; 978-1250199959
audio, ebook, print (384 pages); women's fiction

I started this book with no idea what it was about and was totally overwhelmed when tragedy struck this family. This is a heartbreaking novel that asks the question whether you can forgive not only your family members but more importantly yourself after a tragedy. It's the story of family and love and redemption and heartache. I found it incredibly sad but with a flicker of hope that life would get better for this family.

Finn and Bridget Brennan and their two sons 16-year-old Jarrah and three-year-old Toby move to a part of Australia where they have no friends and have to start their lives over. When their routine changes and childcare switches from one parent to the other, tragedy strikes the family. Not only does the family have to go through the tragedy but they are hounded by the press and have to deal with the police. Sixteen-year-old Jarrah was already being bullied at school and he had no idea how he was going to handle the additional attention. As the days pass, the family splinters into three separate people who are unable to accept and forgive each other. Will they ever find their way back to being a family again?

This is an incredible story told with love and compassion.

Buy In the Blink of an Eye at Amazon

Susan Roberts lives in North Carolina when she isn't traveling. She and her husband enjoy traveling, gardening and spending time with their family and friends. She reads almost anything (and the piles of books in her house prove that) but her favorite genres are Southern fiction, women's fiction, and thrillers. Susan is a top 1% Goodreads Reviewer. You can connect with Susan on Facebook, Goodreads, or Twitter. 

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