What Makes a Family

With her trademark emotional honesty and insight, Colleen Faulkner lays bare the challenges at the heart of a family–learning how to forgive, connect, and let ourselves be truly known at last.Nestled in the Chesapeake Bay, Brodie Island is charming, remote, and slow to change. For three hundred years, Abby Brodie’s farming family has prospered there. Now, years after leaving to make her way on her own terms, Abby is coming home to see her ailing grandmother, with her teenage daughter and a wealth of memories in tow. Yet as family members gather at the old farmhouse, Abby realizes this visit offers more than a chance to say goodbye.After decades of feeling she was a disappointment as a daughter, Abby is beginning to see that her mother, too, has struggled to feel a sense of belonging within the Brodie family. Celeste, Abby’s self-centered sister, is far from the successful actress she pretends to be, and needs help that only Abby and their half-brother, Joseph, can give. But most surprising of all is the secret that Grandmother Brodie has been carrying-one that will make each woman question her identity and the sacrifices she’s willing to make to gain acceptance.With her trademark emotional honesty and insight, Colleen Faulkner lays bare the challenges at the heart of a family-learning how to forgive, connect, and let ourselves be truly known at last.Praise for the novels of Colleen FaulknerAS CLOSE AS SISTERS”As Close as Sisters shares the emotions of four very different women and their personal journeys through heartbreak, hope, and joy. Faulkner addresses serious topics that will evoke both tears and laughter while leaving readers contemplating the unbreakable bonds of friendship.” –Booklist”Readers of women’s fiction and in women’s book groups will be drawn to Faulkner’s new novel. Pour a glass of pinot grigio, grab a box of tissues, and savor the ride.” -Library JournalJUST LIKE OTHER DAUGHTERS”This deeply moving story of maternal love and renewal will touch your heart. It’s a celebration of the capacity of the human heart to heal itself and embrace change, beautifully written with rare insight.” -Susan Wiggs, #1 New York Times bestselling author”Be prepared to weep tears of sorrow as well as tears of joy. This is a novel you won’t soon forget.” -Holly Chamberlin, author of Summer with my Sisters”So real, so honest…I laughed, I hoped, I cried. It’s that good.” -Cathy Lamb, author of My Very Best Friend