Endlessly Entertaining Family Meltdowns in Fiction

Sisters Cait, Alice, and Maggie are reuniting for Thanksgiving in Long Island. But along with their luggage, the adult women are carrying secrets, grief, and guilt over a tragic boating accident that took their brother’s life twenty years ago.

If you gravitate towards stories about the complexities of grief, you’ll welcome a seat at this table as this messy but loving family attempts to share a meal, make peace with their complicated past, and find a way to move forward together. A debut release, it’s also been chosen for the Today show #ReadwithJenna Book Club.

Plumb family siblings Melody, Beatrice, Jack, and Leo have been waiting to receive their inheritance from their long-dead father when they all finally reach their 40s, especially since they each need the money to solve their individual problems, from college tuition for Melody’s twins to the secret beach house Jack’s buying. But when Leo dips into the inheritance early after a drunk-driving accident, the other three unite to vent their resentments, not to mention reevaluate their choices and relationships. Readers drawn to books about large, complex families will appreciate the very human characters of The Nest.

I’m drawn to stories of biological family members meeting for the first time, and this New York Times bestseller is that and more.

David and Marilyn have four adult daughters, each with her own challenges: a young widow, a doubting stay-at-home mom, an unexpectedly pregnant professor, and a secretive youngest child. But it’s the arrival of a teenage grandson given up for adoption that causes the secrets and strife among this motley crew to spill out into the open in this intergenerational tale that became a Reese Witherspoon Book Club Pick.

The only thing worse than being stuck with your dysfunctional family over the holidays? Being forced together to quarantine, as the Birch family discovers in this witty and heartwarming book.

Doctor Olivia returns to the home of her parents, Emma and Andrew, on orders to quarantine for a week after treating an epidemic overseas. Her sister Phoebe has her own concerns, as does her father, who is drowning in nostalgia and regret. But it’s the revelation of a shocking secret and an unexpected guest that really pushes them over the edge. Curl up under a cozy blanket and discover what happens.

Your heart will grow two sizes bigger reading this New York Times bestseller about an Indian American family reunited at a wedding.

Decades ago, Rafiq and Layla came to America and raised three kids. But tensions have pulled the family apart in the years since, including controversy over the eldest daughter Hadia’s decision to marry for love and the secrets that have kept the youngest, Amar, estranged from everyone.

I love stories about how big celebrations can often reveal the fault lines in a family, and that’s certainly true in this moving novel.

Although they’ve split up, Claire and Matt still want their seven-year-old daughter, Scarlett, to have a merry Christmas. So they come together at Happy Forest holiday park, along with their new significant others, Patrick and Alex. Stir together the personality quirks of each of the four adults, young Scarlett’s imaginary rabbit friend, and too many holiday cocktails, and you have a recipe for a shocking and hilarious story of one blended family’s missteps and mishaps.

If you’re like me and enjoy jaded family films like The Ref over the holidays, you’ll savor this sweet and salty concoction.