REVIEW:

I’ve been reading a lot of annoying novels lately about backstabbing friends who can’t stand each other and incessantly gossip and scheme and betray one another, and the whole time I’m thinking, “Um, then don’t be friends.”

But families, amiright?!

I love me a good family melodrama, most likely because the really great ones get to the heart of the human condition. Trying to work through relationships and feelings of self worth and belonging amongst those we didn’t choose but somehow still manage to know us better than we know ourselves - pure gold. That’s certainly the case with the cast of characters in Tracey Lange’s debut novel about a family of adult Irish Catholic siblings dealing with the legacy of their own mistakes as well as those of their parents.

The style of the storytelling is nearly flawless, as each chapter transitions from one character to another. There’s a hint of mystery to the tale, which also keeps the reader engaged enough to never want to put the book down. (Or in my case, the audiobook, which is narrated by Barrie Kreinik. She nails the Irish accents when required and adds inflections that feel gender appropriate for all the characters.)

I will absolutely been adding Lange’s future novels to my Must Read list. In the meantime, I highly recommend you add We Are The Brennans to yours.

My thanks to the author and Macmillan Audio for the gifted advance listeners copy to review via NetGalley. We Are The Brennans is now available!

PUBLISHER SYNOPSIS:

In the vein of Mary Beth Keane's Ask Again, Yes and Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney's The Nest, Tracey Lange's We Are the Brennans explores the staying power of shame—and the redemptive power of love — in an Irish Catholic family torn apart by secrets.

When twenty-nine-year-old Sunday Brennan wakes up in a Los Angeles hospital, bruised and battered after a drunk driving accident she caused, she swallows her pride and goes home to her family in New York. But it's not easy. She deserted them all — and her high school sweetheart — five years before with little explanation, and they've got questions.

Sunday is determined to rebuild her life back on the east coast, even if it does mean tiptoeing around resentful brothers and an ex-fiancé. The longer she stays, however, the more she realizes they need her just as much as she needs them. When a dangerous man from her past brings her family's pub business to the brink of financial ruin, the only way to protect them is to upend all their secrets — secrets that have damaged the family for generations and will threaten everything they know about their lives. In the aftermath, the Brennan family is forced to confront painful mistakes — and ultimately find a way forward, together.