This Family: Your perfect summer read

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The intimacy of a family with all its complications is a quietly devastating read. Loved it." - Julie Owen Moylan Fans of The Stranding, rest assured--This Family is every bit as good and then some. An absolute treat from start to finish." - Natasha Calder Mary is getting married for the second time. She’s hosting a celebratory meal for the whole family and her ex-husband is on hand to cook a hog roast. Everyone has promised to behave; they all agree that Mary deserves her hard won happiness. Poor Mary – that she still has to worry that her adult daughters may cause havoc. We wonder why.

A tender yet vivid novel in both form and voice, its threads as bright as the tapestry of life it depicts. I lived, laughed and ached for these characters throughout. A superb accomplishment’ – Wiz Wharton Bestselling author Alexandra Potter, author of CONFESSIONS OF A FORTY SOMETHING F***-UP & MORE CONFESSIONS OF A FORTY SOMETHING F***-UP. Extraordinary. So elegant, compelling and beautifully written… a vivid and insightful exploration of the complexities of sisterhood, adulthood, desire and grief’ – Daisy Buchanan I was really glad I started reading this book when I was at home, because Rosie's circumstances absolutely broke my heart, and were quite triggering for me. It's not much of a spoiler to mention here because it does happen so close to the start of the story, but Rosie's mother commits suicide while she is very young, and she subsequently lives with her Dad (Richard) and Mary, along with her two half-sisters (Emma and Phoebe). The characters themselves were interesting, and felt like real people, even though they are fictionalised.On an unusually hot day in September, sixty-something divorcee, Mary Roberts, is preparing her garden for her wedding to a man she has known for decades. After remaining single for more than thirty years since her ex-husband, Richard, left her and their two small daughters for another woman, Mary is ready to commit herself and move on with her new life. However, moving on means leaving the home she has lived in for forty years - a home that her two daughters, Emma and Phoebe, grew up in and in which her step-daughter, Rosie, spent the latter part of her childhood and her teenage years. As Mary wanders around her beautiful garden, putting the final touches to the assortment of tables she has gathered from various places around the house, she wonders whether she has done the right thing in giving up the family home - but, that aside, she is more worried about how the day itself will unfold. Due to a life-altering event, Emma and Phoebe, once so very close, are now estranged from one another and Mary isn’t sure what will happen when the pair of them meet for the first time in years; her ex-husband Richard has taken it upon himself to cater for the entire gathering of over forty people, which includes him preparing and then roasting a whole hog; Richard’s mother, who has recently broken her hip and has been living with Mary, has a sharp tongue and isn’t above voicing her thoughts at sensitive moments; and Rosie is bringing her new boyfriend to meet the family for the first time. Added to all of that is the fact that Phoebe is a recovering alcoholic and as there will be a lot of alcohol at the party, Mary worries whether Phoebe’s anxiety at meeting up with Emma will be too much for her. Can her family put their differences aside for just twenty four hours and allow Mary to have the lovely day she hopes for, or will the still raw feelings from past events be too strong for her family to cope with? I don't know if Sawyer has any direct experience with the impact on children when a parent has taken their own life, but there was so much of myself that I saw in Rosie. The emotional impact of trying to support the surviving parent while squashing down your own needs and experiences, the odd misplaced pressure and guilt that you carry around inside trying to prove yourself to the world, and trying to prove that you're a good person. It really does leave it's scars. Feels like the ultimate eavesdropping exercise, it's satisfying fresh and expertly structured. The penultimate chapter will make you shriek. I loved it.' ALEXANDRA HEMINSLEY Huma is also a brilliant creative writing teacher and we discuss her style as a teacher and some of her favourite book recommendations for writers. Again without giving any spoilers, she is betrayed and heartbroken, and yet she is gracious, generous, and loving towards all those who deserve it.

In a dual timeline that switches cleverly from the day itself to the past (no specific dates are given but the switch from present to past tense denotes the change), we begin to understand the threads that hold this family together, and the stitches that have torn apart over the years. Ruth is ignoring the news. Like most people, she has relations hip problems, job stress, friends and family who need her. Ruth has a life. She wasn't always happy about this sense of obligation, but has always done what she believed was her duty to her family, and I was glad that with the wedding and resolution of the novel Mary was finally putting herself and her own happiness first.Messy, complicated joyful characters and relationships that sneak into your heart and make you care … a bittersweet, deftly woven, captivating portrayal of a mother and daughters.’ JENNIFER SAINT Set over the course of an English summer's day but punctuated with memories from the past forty years of love and loss, hope and joy, heartbreak and grief, this is the story of a family. Told by a chorus of characters, it is an exploration of the small moments that bring us to where we are, the changes that are brought about by time, and what, despite everything, stays the same. About This Edition ISBN: Sometimes a book doesn’t need to shout to make an impact. This Family is one of those books – it’s quiet, unassuming and yet it stays in your mind once it’s finished.

Absorbing and unexpected. It took some turns that I really didn't see coming, but which nonetheless felt plausible and satisfying -- Rebecca Wait This book delves deeply into the life of a patchwork family and carries one message: family life is messy but love conquers all. The author has the ability to define characters so well that you really feel by the end of the story that you know them all and I could recognise my own friends and family members in them Beautiful and compelling ... the most complex of dynamics are handled with the lightest, deftest touch... masterful.' LAURA KAY

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Novel Experience with Kate Sawyer is recorded and produced by Kate Sawyer - GET IN TOUCH or visit https://www.mskatesawyer.com/novelexperiencepodcast for more information. Kate Sawyer writes and immerses the reader in a beautifully realised and moving family drama set in Suffolk, with all its complexities, the dysfunctions, joy, regrets, betrayal, loss, grief, love, pain, heartbreak, squabbles and conflict. 4 decades of memories and nostalgia tumble out during a sweltering September day in which Mary is getting married again in the beloved family home with its willow tree, a day to remember as she is moving out soon, for the home has been sold. In a non-linear narrative, Mary is hoping her 3 daughters manage to be civil to each other, for the family has been broken for some time. As preparations get underway, we become aware this is an unconventional wedding, present is Mary's ex-mother in law, Irene, whom she has been caring for, and the catering, with its centrepiece of a hog roast, is being done by her ex-husband, Richard. Sunflowers are the significant central motif of the celebrations. Dystopian Fiction Books Everyone Should Read: Explore The Darker Side of Possible Worlds and Alternative Futures I don’t think it’s my way to ask much of others, but now I am asking each of you to give me one day where you leave any animosity at the gate and try to remember that you love each other.”