A Family Matter
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By Claire Lynch
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1 review
WINNER OF THE NERO BOOK AWARDS GOLD PRIZE BOOK OF THE YEAR 2025
‘I’ll be thinking about it for ever’ Barbara Kingsolver
‘A gorgeously written story…a must-read’ Jennie Godfrey
‘Both readable and intelligent…it offers hope and consolation… This novel will be read and thought about for years to come’ Nick Hornby
‘I was caught up from the first page and completely taken aback by this story. I loved it’ Clare Chambers
A mother following her heart. A father with the law on his side. A child caught in the middle.
1982 Dawn is a young wife and mother hemmed in by village life. Then Hazel appears like a torch in the dark. Their attraction is instant and suddenly Dawn’s world is more joyful, and more complicated, than she ever expected.
2022 Maggie has always lived with an absence where her mother should be. Her father never speaks of her and it feels impossible to ask. Then an official letter arrives with news from the past, and Maggie must face a truth far bigger than just her family’s secret.
‘I was completely blown away by Claire Lynch’s exquisite writing, her acute observations, and deep, undramatic understanding of the inner life of people… It’s one of those books that takes up residence inside of you and welds itself onto your soul’ Nigella Lawson
‘Powerful and beautifully written… Lynch is a huge new talent in fiction’ Good Housekeeping, Book of the Month
‘Explores love and loss, intimacy and justice, custody and care…it’s brilliant, I couldn’t put it down’ Anita Rani, Woman’s Hour
‘A beautiful and tender exploration of parental love, prejudice and the things we carry’ Rachel Joyce
‘A brilliant book… Full of heart, sympathy and sadness’ Sara Pascoe
‘A triumph! Like the great Maggie O’Farrell, Claire Lynch deals brilliantly with both big themes and small moments’ Elin Hilderbrand
‘Smart and heartbreaking’ Guardian
READERS ARE IN LOVE WITH A FAMILY MATTER***
‘I would rate this 10 stars if I could’
‘Utterly brilliant, I was captivated from page one’
‘This book had my whole heart and more’
‘A beautiful, heartbreaking, important book’
‘I can’t get the story out of my head’
‘It totally broke my heart’
‘I’ll be thinking of these characters for a long time to come’
Reviews
This novella by Claire Lynch juxtaposes time periods of forty years, concentrating specifically on 1982 and 2022. It begins most recently with the revelation that Heron, an old man with obsessional routines, has been diagnosed with a terminal illness. Heron struggles with the prospect of informing his only daughter, Maggie, not only about this, but also about other poignant secrets he has withheld.
In 1982, wife and mother, Dawn has been conforming with societal expectations concerning domestic and familial commitments, but she is beginning to feel straitjacketed. A chance encounter at a jumble sale with Hazel, a stranger and newcomer employed as a teacher in the area, leads to something more than casual friendship. Dawn is unable to resist this attraction. What are the implications for her marriage and her obligations to her very young daughter, Maggie?
Irrespective of a reader's perhaps sympathetic or negatively entrenched stance on LGBTQ+ issues, Claire Lynch paints a picture of the judgmental and severe patriarchal norms of the 1980s, which surely cause everyone significant pause for thought. Is Dawn really a moral risk to her daughter? Can a full and permanent separation ever be entirely justified? Is there a balm for the lesions of the past and can reconciliation or forgiveness be achieved? A wonderful read!
