3 stars.

This award winning author (including the James Beard award!) brings a tale about the Samuelsons, a family in Altadena, California (which made me very sad.) Sally was eight, her sister Katie, 14 and her golden boy brother, Ellis was seventeen the summer Ellis disappeared for the summer. It was after he graduated from high school and just before he was headed to Ole Miss on a baseball scholarship. He had gone on a trip with some high school friends and just didn’t come back.

Turns out he had been living at a group home. His parents found home through an ad in a newspaper, went up, met his girlfriend and brought him home. But he was still in love with Julia, a college student who was, after their two months together, pregnant. But neither she nor Ellis knew that before he headed to Oxford and died, just days after his arrival.

When Julia discovers her pregnancy she goes to the Samuelsons to see if they want to raise the baby. They do, but after their two death of Ellis, each member of the family is damaged. This is the story of a family dealing with grief.

I enjoyed this but wonder how much I’ll remember about it long term. This is one I might change my rating on. Katie and Ellis are mostly ciphers here. I enjoyed the portions set in the Middle East.

I love every single thing I've read by Huneven and this is yet another impressive work to add to the list. Why isn't she one of our most awarded authors?

I know Michelle Huneven has had a long and successful career; I also suspect I'm not the only one who was eager to read more after encountering her work through Search. This was an altogether different but thoroughly enjoyable tale of four generations of one California family. I was constantly surprised at where Huneven took us in laying out there history, but enjoyed every stop along the way.

Wow! I loved this book and read it in one day. I liked how each chapter focused on a different family member and segment of life. I cannot imagine the author’s work in creating so many detailed storylines but making them all fit together. Beautifully done. Giving it 4 instead of 5 stars simply because I didn’t agree with some of the choices the characters made. But, I know that we are all flawed too, and beauty can and does come after our mistakes!