A Family Affair
When a woman notices a
young pregant woman attending her husband's funeral she realizes his mid-life
crisis went far beyond his weekend warrior lifestyle. But Carr's story of a
family dealing with their grief is full of surprises and as everyone examines
their own beliefs and behavior, they become closer than they ever thought
possible. Carr tackles the serious issues women face with humor and heart.
Robyn Carr is an
award-winning, #1 New York Times bestselling author of more than sixty novels,
including highly praised women’s fiction such as Four Friends, The Summer That
Made Us and The View from Alameda Island, as well as the critically acclaimed
Virgin River, Thunder Point and Sullivan's Crossing series. Virgin River is now
a Netflix original series. Robyn lives in Las Vegas, Nevada. You can visit her
website at robyncarr.com.
A Family Affair by Robyn Carr is
a poignant novel about grief, love, heartache, betrayal, family, and
forgiveness. Anna McNichol loses her
husband, Chad unexpectedly. When his
will is read, the family is surprised when he leaves money to an anonymous individual. Anna and Chad had been having marital
problems recently and now she will never be able to get them resolved. Chad was unhappy with the marriage and seemed
to be searching for something. Anna notices
a pregnant woman at the funeral and wonders what other secrets her husband was
hiding. Anna’s three grown children deal
with their grief in diverse ways. Each
is struggling with the loss. We follow
the McNichols as they deal with the loss of Chad and learn about his
secrets. I thought A Family Affair was
well-written with steady pacing. I
thought the characters were developed and realistic. Robyn Carr created a realistic family and
explored their dynamics. Each family
member needs to make a choice. They
could stay bitter and angry at Chad for his actions, or they can forgive so
they can go on to lead happy, fulfilled lives.
Anna is a strong woman who handles the challenges thrown at her while
continuing to do her job and support her children. A Family Affair has a satisfying conclusion. Life can change in an instant as we see in A Family Affair. If you like family dramas
that delve into intricacies of a family, you should pick up A Family Affair. A Family Affair is a story that will tug at
your heartstrings.
The celebration of life
was not held in a funeral parlor or church but rather in a fancy clubhouse in
an upscale Mill Valley community. It was furnished with comfortable sofas,
chairs, small round accent tables, thick carpet and carefully chosen art. Its
primary purpose was for hosting parties. Residents in the community could rent
it for events, which Anna had done. There was a huge viewing screen upon which
the pictures of Chad’s life played, a hundred and fifty of them, carefully and
lovingly chosen by Anna with a little help from the kids. Every picture had
Chad in it, starting from old childhood prints she’d inherited from Chad’s
mother years ago. She’d glance up to see one of him in a high school football
uniform looking the worse for wear with a big grin on his dirty face; she
caught a huge blowup of their wedding picture; there was one soon after of him
with baby Jessie asleep on his chest. There were many pictures of Chad alone, a
few of Chad and Anna, one of a young Anna gazing lovingly up into Chad’s face,
several family groupings. The focus was Chad, his life, his accomplishments,
his achievements, his happiness, a few of the important people in his life.
Chad, Chad, Chad. Just like before he died.
Things had been tense lately, but she remembered those younger years fondly because, although it
hadn’t been easy, they had been deeply in love. They met through what can only
be described as fate, as destiny. In fact, their meeting was a legendary family
story. Anna had been in San Francisco, shopping on her lunch hour down at
Fisherman’s Wharf. Shopping but not buying, which was typical for her as she
had been and still was very frugal. She loved the sea lions, enjoyed watching
tourists, sometimes found bargains at Pier 1, enjoyed the occasional meal on
the pier.
On that day, something
strange happened. She heard a panicked cry rise from the crowd of tourists on
the pier, saw a food truck trundling across the pier without a driver, picking
up speed. A man in work clothes and apron was chasing the truck. She only had
seconds to take it in. It seemed the food truck, its awning out and moving
fast, was headed toward a group of people. Right before her eyes the truck
knocked a man off the pier before the truck was stopped by a barricade.
The man, completely
unaware, flew off the dock and into the water below, startling a large number
of fat sea lions who had been sunning themselves nearby.
The sea lions scrambled
into the water and the man was flailing around in a panic. Someone yelled, “He
can’t swim!” Hardly giving it a thought, Anna dropped her purse, kicked off her
shoes and jumped off the pier, swimming to the man. Getting to him was no
challenge; she practically landed on top of him. But he was hysterical and
splashing, kicking and sputtering. “You’re okay, come on,” she said, grabbing
his shirt by the collar. But he fought harder and sank, nearly pulling her
under with him.
She slapped him in the
face and that startled him enough he could let himself be rescued. She slid her
arm around his neck and began pulling him to the dock where a couple of men
seemed to be standing by to pull him in.
There was a lot of
commotion, not to mention honking noises from sea lions. Anna was shivering in
her wet clothes and all she could think at the time was how was she going to
locate a change of clothes for her afternoon at work. Then there were emergency
vehicles and a handsome young police officer draped a blanket around her
shoulders and took a report. The near drowning victim was taken away in an
ambulance and Anna was given a ride to her apartment by the cute policeman.
She was delighted and surprised when the police officer called her a week
later. She almost hyperventilated in hope that he’d ask her out.
“The man you pulled out
of the water has been in touch. He wants your name,” the officer said.
“He isn’t going to sue
me, is he?” she asked.
“I don’t think so,” he
said with a laugh. “He seems very grateful. He won’t have any trouble tracking
you down but I said I’d ask. He probably wants to thank you.”
The man’s name was Chad.
He was finishing up his PhD at Berkeley while she was working in a law office
in the Bay Area. She was twenty-three and he was twenty-seven and she was not
prepared for how handsome he was and of course much better put together than
when he was dragged out of the water.
He took her to dinner
and, as she recalled, their first date was almost like an interview. He wanted
to know everything about her and was utterly amazed to learn she’d had a job as
a lifeguard in a community pool for exactly one summer when she was a teenager
and yet jumped in to save him with total confidence. They fell in love almost
instantly. The first time they made love, he asked her to marry him. She didn’t
say yes right away, but they knew from the start they were made for each other.
What they didn’t know was how many fights they’d have. Very few big fights but
many small ones; she thought of them as bickering. They fought about what was
on the pizza; a scrape on the side of the car that was not her fault, not even
remotely; what kind of vacation they should have and where they should go. As
Anna recalled, they always went where Chad wanted to go. They fought about what
movie to see, where to eat, what was grumbled under his or her breath.
They fought seriously about
his affair. That was in the distant past but it took a long time to get over.
Years. But when they finally pledged to stay married, to do their best to make
it good, they fell into bed and had the best sex of their lives. And they had
Elizabeth.
That experience was how
she knew that all the excuses for this current marital rift, no matter what he
called it, was probably about another woman and not them growing apart or
having divergent needs. He wouldn’t admit it and she had no proof, but she had
better than average instincts. She believed he’d gotten all excited at the
prospect of falling in love and was rewriting their history to make that
acceptable. He was looking for an excuse that would make it reasonable to step
outside the bonds of marriage. She could feel it; he’d been involved with
someone else.
The
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