A Family Matter
Published on 29. May 2025
Book
Hardback
224 pages
978-1-78474-583-7 (ISBN)
Description
**WINNER OF THE NERO BOOK AWARDS GOLD PRIZE BOOK OF THE YEAR 2025**
No one need know about her mother's deviation
A mother following her heart
A father with the law on his side
A child caught in the middle
'I'll be thinking about it forever' Barbara Kingsolver
'Powerful ...smart and often heartbreaking' Guardian
'A brilliant book... Full of heart, sympathy and sadness' Sara Pascoe
'I was caught up from the first page' Clare Chambers
'I am in awe... a must read' Jennie Godfrey
'Beautifully written' Good Housekeeping, Book of the Month
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.
At once heart-breaking and hopeful, A Family Matter asks how we might heal from the wounds of the past, and what we might learn from them.
'A beautiful and tender exploration of parental love, prejudice and the things we carry' RACHEL JOYCE
Goodreads Most Anticipated Books of Summer 2025
***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'
No one need know about her mother's deviation
A mother following her heart
A father with the law on his side
A child caught in the middle
'I'll be thinking about it forever' Barbara Kingsolver
'Powerful ...smart and often heartbreaking' Guardian
'A brilliant book... Full of heart, sympathy and sadness' Sara Pascoe
'I was caught up from the first page' Clare Chambers
'I am in awe... a must read' Jennie Godfrey
'Beautifully written' Good Housekeeping, Book of the Month
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.
At once heart-breaking and hopeful, A Family Matter asks how we might heal from the wounds of the past, and what we might learn from them.
'A beautiful and tender exploration of parental love, prejudice and the things we carry' RACHEL JOYCE
Goodreads Most Anticipated Books of Summer 2025
***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'
Reviews / Votes
'Lynch's debut burns like a sparkler, quick and mesmerizing.' * New York Times * Affecting... Distilling sadness and hope , Lynch movingly weighs the gifts and costs of the era into which a person is born * Mail on Sunday * 'I was caught up from the first page, and completely taken aback by this story of restraint and 'civilised' behaviour, and things unsaid. I loved it' * Clare Chambers * 'A wonderful novel: profoundly sad but also absolutely gripping... it manages to be damning about a culture and a system whilst being compassionate towards the human beings pitted against each other inside that system' * Mark Haddon * 'A beautiful and tender exploration of parental love, prejudice and the things we carry that we don't even fully understand; the terrible decisions made in ignorance, and the almost unbearable consequences' * Rachel Joyce * Gorgeous writing, beautifully told. From the first lines I was caught up in this family's net, the half-truths, the lies, and the love * Claire Fuller * Explores love and loss, intimacy and justice, custody and care...it's brilliant, I couldn't put it down -- Anita Rani * Woman's Hour * I smiled. I cried. I raged. Claire Lynch has written an un-put-downable novel, and I want everyone to read it. Lynch takes part of our recent history of shame and stigma, and makes it real and beautiful and moving and challenging. Every page sings out with empathy and love, pain and honesty. And the writing - so precise, so deceptively simple, so beautiful in its tiny moments - makes the pages speed by. This book will make you look differently at the world.' * Emilie Pine * 'To tackle heart-wrenching emotion with such precision and restraint takes one hell of a talent. An impeccable debut that takes the mess of life and turns it into something quite beautiful. A timely reminder of love's redemptive power. I was blown away by this novel.' * Lotte Jeffs * I'm full of admiration for this novel, which strikes the satisfying balance of being both quietly observed and deeply felt. It's an intimate portrait of expectation, love and restraint written with great sensitivity and warmth. I adored it.' * Chloe Ashby *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Vintage Publishing
Dimensions
Height: 218 mm
Width: 140 mm
Thickness: 27 mm
Weight
334 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-78474-583-7 (9781784745837)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Person
Claire Lynch has spent her career teaching literature in universities. She is the author of Small: On Motherhoods. She lives in Windsor with her wife and three daughters.