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Last summer, The Resurrection of Joan Ashby was on all the must-read lists. I bought it, but unfortunately, I have not read it yet, so I went in to The Family Tabor with no knowledge of Cherise Wolas’ writing style, and I was blown away!

My Thoughts:

4 thoughtful and introspective stars to The Family Tabor! 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟 

At seventy years old, Harry Tabor is to be named Man of the Decade, a capstone achievement. His family comes together to attend the celebration, including his wife, Roma, a child psychologist, and his three brilliant and high-achieving children; two are lawyers, the other a social anthropologist. I was intrigued with the various occupations of the characters as they were layered into the story.

As one might expect, things are not always as perfect as they appear on the surface, and not only are each of the adult children harboring secrets and camouflaging blemishes, so is Harry.

The Family Tabor reminded me of the game, Jenga, where layer by layer, we add a piece, building the family’s foundation, and as we play, or live life, we slowly remove a piece, digging at the center, or the truth, and as the structure loses stability and integrity, it might crumble to the ground. This family is on shaky ground, and piece-by-piece as the truth comes out, the family as a whole, and what they each thought was true is in jeopardy, which threatens their identities at the core.

I have been using this phrase frequently with my summer reads, but it fits this book as well: The Family Tabor required my patience as a reader. It was not a book I could breeze through, and it is chock full of intricate details of a family, some going back generations. It serves as a reminder that we are not always as independent as we think we are. Our forebears’ paths affect our own without our awareness. The Family Tabor is a rich, deep character study, on family, really, and while it all takes place in the course of a weekend, much takes place within the hearts of these characters.

Thank you to Flatiron Books for the ARC. The Family Tabor is available now! Happy Pub Day!

Synopsis:

Harry Tabor is about to be named Man of the Decade, a distinction that feels like the culmination of a life well lived. Gathering together in Palm Springs for the celebration are his wife, Roma, a distinguished child psychologist, and their children: Phoebe, a high-powered attorney; Camille, a brilliant social anthropologist; and Simon, a big-firm lawyer, who brings his glamorous wife and two young daughters.

But immediately, cracks begin to appear in this smooth facade: Simon hasn’t been sleeping through the night, Camille can’t decide what to do with her life, and Phoebe is a little too cagey about her new boyfriend. Roma knows her children are hiding things. What she doesn’t know, what none of them know, is that Harry is suddenly haunted by the long-buried secret that drove him, decades ago, to relocate his young family to the California desert. As the ceremony nears, the family members are forced to confront the falsehoods upon which their lives are built.

Set over the course of a single weekend, and deftly alternating between the five Tabors, this provocative, gorgeously rendered novel reckons with the nature of the stories we tell ourselves and our family and the price we pay for second chances.

Have you read The Family Tabor and/or The Resurrection of Joan Ashby, and if so, what are your thoughts? Happy Reading! ~ Jennifer THR