And there is no second book syndrome in sight as Sawyer once again showcases her remarkable storytelling in this beautifully written story. What a magnificent book! Kate Sawyere’s debut, The Stranding, was one of my favourite books of 2021 so I was highly anticipating her sophomore novel. Can they put their bad blood aside for this one day? Or will their deep wounds rise to the surface and bubble over in a blaze of fury and resentment?īut where there are new beginnings, there are always endings too.” This family saga is told over the course of a late summer’s day and peppered with flashbacks that illustrate their history and the animosity, discord and anger that lingers between them. 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.”Įnchanting, moving and achingly real, This Family is another literary masterpiece from Kate Sawyer. “It is my dearest wish that after so long apart, I am able to bring this family back together for my wedding day. 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. 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. Even Emma, Mary’s eldest, is back for the wedding – despite being at odds with everyone else. The young and sensitive Rosie, with her new partner. The wedding celebrations have brought fractured family together for the first time in years: there’s Phoebe and her husband Michael, children in tow. Today she is getting married in this house, with all her family in attendance. Watched her children play and laugh and bicker in this house. It is my dearest wish, that after so long apart, I am able to bring this family together for my wedding day. The rich, precise prose drew me into their world and held me there from beginning to end.’ JO BROWNING WROE ‘The vibrant, complex members of This Family are still alive and well in my imagination, weeks after I finished reading it.

An absolute treat from start to finish.’ NATASHA CALDER ‘Fans of The Stranding, rest assured– This Family is every bit as good and then some. ‘Unfolds like a great piece of theatre… The more I read, the harder it became to put down.’ BOBBY PALMER Beautifully written, it expertly weaves the past with the present, building the tension, so you have to turn the pages.’ GEORGINA MOORE ‘Every nuance of mother and daughters and sister relationships is vividly explored. Funny and powerful, deeply moving, hugely atmospheric.’ LIZ HYDER ‘Lyrical, literary and luminous … buy it and treat yourself to writing at its finest.’ BETHANY CLIFT The penultimate chapter will make you shriek. ‘Feels like the ultimate eavesdropping exercise, it’s satisfying fresh and expertly structured.

I lived, laughed and ached for these characters throughout. ‘A tender yet vivid novel in both form and voice, its threads as bright as the tapestry of life it depicts. Kate Sawyer makes the reader feel as though they have a seat at the family table.’ ERIN KELLY Thank you to Coronet for the gifted proof copy.Īn ambitious new novel of family life past and present from the author of the Costa Book Awards shortlisted The Stranding. Welcome to my review of This Family, the enthralling literary masterpiece that was the Squadpod Book Club pick for May. Literary Fiction, Contemporary Fiction, Domestic Fiction

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