Family Law

December 1, 2020

In the New York Times best-selling Henry's People We Meet on Vacation, vivacious travel writer Poppy once vacationed yearly with straight-and-narrow best friend Alex, but their last vacation left their relationship in shreds, and Poppy must talk him into one last trip so they can right the balance. In Jenoff's The Woman with the Blue Star, 18-year-old Sadie Gault is hiding in the sewers after the liquidation of the Krak�w ghetto when she forms a tentative friendship with wealthy Polish girl Ella Stepanek (500,000-copy paperback and 10,000-copy hardcover first printing). In Just Last Night, the latest from the internationally best-selling McFarlane (If I Never Met You), Eve is still crushing on Ed, among their group of four forever best friends, but her questions about what might have been are interrupted by a catastrophe upending all their lives (50,000-copy first printing). Best-selling novelist/memoirist Maynard returns with Count the Ways, which tracks the fate of a family when the parents break up after an accident that permanently injures the youngest child (50,000-copy first printing). Oakley follows up You Were There Too, a LibraryReads pick whose film rights have been sold, with The Invisible Husband of Frick Island, featuring an ambitious young journalist disgruntled about having to cover a fundraiser on Chesapeake Bay's Frick Island until he discovers the townsfolk pretending to hear and see a man who's not there--all for the sake of his widow. Inspired by a real-life individual, Phillips's The Family Law stars a crusading young family lawyer in early 1980s Alabama whose efforts to help women escape abusive marriages brings death threats that eventually endanger a teenager she has befriended. In Shipman's latest, terminally ill Emily wants the lifelong friends she made at summer camp in 1985 to scatter her ashes at the camp, and The Clover Girls find another life-affirming request from her when they oblige (100,000-copy paperback and 10,000-copy hardcover first printing). No plot details yet on Weiner's That Summer, but the setting is sunstruck Cape Cod, and there's a 350,000-copy first printing. Weir's Katharine Parr, The Sixth Wife, tells the story of twice-widowed Katharine, cornered into marriage with Henry VIII and shamelessly used by an old lover after Henry's death.

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February 1, 2021
In 1979 Alabama, a sheltered teen befriends a feminist firebrand. When Margaret Morris decides to divorce her husband, her first call is to Lucia Gilbert--a hard-charging family lawyer known for championing the Equal Rights Amendment and striking fear into the hearts of her opponents. Margaret proves unsettled by Lucia's candor and elects to find representation more suited to her timorous temperament. Margaret's 13-year-old daughter, Rachel, however, is awed by the confident, ambitious Lucia, who is the polar opposite of every female role model she's ever had. After Rachel discovers that Lucia and her husband, Evan, live down the street from her Aunt Molly, she begins visiting them--a habit that continues into high school. Lucia and Evan genuinely enjoy the girl's company, and through them, Rachel learns that, contrary to all she has seen and been taught, marriages can be true partnerships. But when an act of violence aimed at Lucia endangers Rachel, the attorney starts questioning whether her influence is entirely positive. Rachel's first-person narrative alternates with third-person chapters written from Lucia's perspective, their experiences combining to paint a nuanced portrait of the era and its volatility. The pace is languorous and the plot feels like a bit of an afterthought, but Phillips' keenly drawn characters and their realistically flawed relationships will hold patient readers rapt until the book's uplifting close. An incisive, warmhearted exploration of women's roles in shaping society, the future, and each other.

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March 22, 2021
Phillips’s uneven dual narrative set in early 1980s Alabama (after The Hidden Summer) is stronger in its exploration of women’s resistance to the status quo than it is in its lackluster attempt at examining racism. Lucia Gilbert, a formidable divorce lawyer, grew up in Alabama with racist parents and specializes in helping women fight for their rights. Rachel Morris, the 13-year-old daughter of prospective client Margaret, befriends Lucia after they meet in Lucia’s office, though Margaret ultimately declines her services in favor of someone who’s less of a feminist firebrand. Rachel, though, begins regularly visiting her house, where she marvels at the differences between Lucia’s refined household and her own, as bookcases are filled with books rather than potpourri and “endless figurines.” After gunshots are fired at Lucia’s home, Lucia and the already jealous Margaret both insist Rachel stay away, though Lucia’s example of independence continues to influence Rachel. Meanwhile, Lucia and Rachel both chafe at the racist jokes that pour forth from family and friends—though much of this feels unfortunately gratuitous. Worse, while Lucia’s reflections on the unjust misfortunes of a former Black client’s 13-year-old daughter shed some light on her interest in looking out for Rachel, who is white, the absence of Black voices in the narrative makes the gesture at consciousness feel hollow. Readers ought to take a pass. Kimberly Witherspoon, InkWell Management.

April 1, 2021
One of only two women in her law school class, Lucia Gilbert now works as a family lawyer in 1980s Alabama, assisting women through often messy divorces and custody battles while finding herself the target of harassment. Even though she and her latest client, Margaret, part ways, Margaret's teen daughter Rachel is thoroughly intrigued by Lucia, whom she sees as the opposite of her traditional, strict mother. And Lucia and her husband are just as fond of Rachel, who often visits them at home. When threats turn into violence and Rachel is in harm's way, Lucia and Rachel must consider what it means for them and how, as women, they move through the world. Writing from Lucia's and Rachel's alternating viewpoints, Phillips (Fierce Kingdom, 2017) nails dialogue and characters' emotions even as the loose plot meanders. The gentle foreboding lends an air of suspense, and the era's details (Tab, anyone?), misogyny (which Phillips explores well), and racism (which she could have explored further) fill out the setting. Fans of character-driven women's fiction should be on the lookout.

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