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Family Ties Family Lies

ebook
1 of 1 copy available
1 of 1 copy available

It's not easy keeping secrets in a small town.

Rose Webster is facing down her fortieth birthday and worrying about her future as a photojournalist after getting caught in a raucous rally and shoved to the hard pavement, destroying her camera and, at least temporarily, her livelihood. One arm is in a splint, her right hand isn't strong enough to hold a cup of coffee, and bruised ribs make it difficult to breathe. She's filling out insurance claims when her aunt calls to tell her she's needed in upstate New York to care for her ailing mother.

Rose has never liked returning to Lake Amelia in the foothills of the Adirondacks for more than a couple of days, but she has no choice. Doctors discover her mother has more health issues than anyone suspected, and Rose needs to help care for her. While poking around in the attic of her childhood home, Rose discovers personal items of her late father's that hint of a secret life: a photo hidden in a book and a travel bag that hasn't been opened in more than a decade.

Her next startling discovery sends shockwaves through her family. She's more determined than ever to find answers no matter the cost. But will she regret what she learns and how it changes the way she thinks about family?

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    • Kirkus

      March 1, 2024
      A woman caring for her dying mother probes her dead father's infidelity and a string of bicycle thefts in Boulden's luminous novel. Rose Webster, a Philadelphia photojournalist, returns to her girlhood home of Lake Amelia, New York, when her mother Carly takes a bad fall after fainting. When Carly is diagnosed with stage three lung cancer, she opts to forgo treatment in favor of in-home hospice care. Much of the book fleshes out well-observed caregiving procedures as Rose (herself nursing a broken arm suffered when she was covering a strike) devotedly tends to sleeping arrangements, meds, and meals for the fading Carly. The compulsively curious Rose also makes time to delve into a rash of stolen bicycle reports that are being investigated by Maxi Stover, a by-the-book deputy sheriff whom Rose befriends and pumps for information about the thefts. At the same time, Rose explores a more intimate mystery when she unearths evidence of her deceased father Randall's adulterous relationship with a woman with the initials KNT; when she asks Carly and her Aunt Tess about the affair, they angrily shut down her questions. Rose continues her own sleuthing and discovers answers that upend her understanding of her family's history. Boulden's story presents small-scale but beguiling mysteries backgrounded by a vibrant portrait of a small town that's both warmly close-knit and slightly claustrophobic. It's also a meditation on family love, loss, and remembrance, conveyed in plangent prose grounded in rich, concrete detail: "Her mom's chin rested on her chest, lulled to sleep by the gentle motion of the car, the passing view out the window of summer-green trees and open fields, and perhaps the acceptance of what lay ahead." Readers will root for Rose as she seeks out truths that are as likely to wound as to heal. A captivating saga that finds deep emotional resonances in quiet scenes of family life.

      COPYRIGHT(2024) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

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  • English

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