Immediate Family

May 1, 2006
Friendship among four Princeton grads stands the test of time-and tough times-in Goudge's latest work of flowery but satisfying women's fiction (after Otherwise Engaged). Jay Gunderson, Franny Richman, Stevie Light and Emerson Fitzgibbons reconnect at their 15-year reunion, which marks the novel's beginning. Over the course of the story, each character faces life-changing events and proves that friends don't just offer help, "they roll up their sleeves." Franny, a literary agent with a ticking biological clock, is frantically searching for "Mr. Right on Time." With help of her best friend Jay, an ad executive and father-to-be married to the gorgeous French Vivienne, she arrives at an unorthodox solution with surprising long-term repercussions. For Stevie, a spitfire entertainment reporter, commitment fears stem from growing up without a father; now, she fends off a marriage proposal from her boyfriend Ryan while she discovers a father she never knew. Blueblood Emerson, a divorced single mom and PR exec, discreetly loves a man with whom an open relationship might be "social suicide". The narrative bogs down with an abundance of description, but Goudge wraps up the novel with happy endings for all.