Normal Family

Normal Family is a wildly funny coming-of-age novel about a young boy's four consecutive holidays with his eccentric family. Over the course of Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter and Independence Day, our young hero, Henry Pendergast, comes to know his once-famous author (and now alcoholic) grandfather George, who sobers up long enough to help Henry come to terms with the mystery surrounding his mother's mental illness. Henry somehow perseveres through a landmine of dysfunctional relatives amidst a family in decline, including siblings, parents and step family, all set against the social chaos of late-1960s America. Funny, bittersweet and highly entertaining, Normal Family might be the first novel whose entire action takes place over the family holidays.

Ideal reading for anyone about to head home for the holidays, Normal Family will have you in fits of laughter. Bring it on the plane, the train, the bus...and by the time you arrive home you will feel ready for just about anything.