Little Monsters

I think it's fair to call this a juicy, big-hearted family novel, set in the summer of 2016 in New England. Fearing his fast-approaching 70th birthday, the brilliant patriarch who heads this blue blood family decides to go off his bipolar disorder meds, certain this will lead to a big breakthrough in his oceanography research. He adores his two adult children, though the siblings are polar opposites who don't understand each other and don't get along. Into this dramatic family milieu strolls an outsider who is related by blood to the Gardner clan but doesn't want to reveal her connection until she gets to know them and can decide if she wants to be part of their lives. Long-held secrets and scandalous revelations keep trickling out all summer long, until everything comes to a head at the patriarch's 70th birthday gala. I love a good family drama, and also appreciated the themes of arts, politics, midlife reassessment, and reinvention in this debut. The audiobook boasts a full cast narration.