First published 2020
Alex Tuchman stands at her father Victor's deathbed in New Orleans, finally ready to uncover the truth about the man who shaped her family. A lawyer and mother, Alex has traveled south with one mission: to break through her mother Barbra's silence about Victor's past as a ruthless real estate developer. While Alex fires questions at Barbra, her brother Gary remains unreachable in Los Angeles, chasing his film career. Gary's wife Twyla spirals into breakdown, hoarding lipstick and crying in New Orleans drugstores. As Victor lies dying, each family member wrestles with his legacy of power and abuse. Barbra reflects on decades of marriage to a difficult man. Alex searches for answers that might explain her own nature. The family faces a reckoning with toxic patterns that have shaped them across generations. They must decide whether they can untangle themselves from Victor's influence and forge new relationships with each other and their children.
Genres: literary-fiction, american-fiction, abuse, contemporary, 21st-century, family-drama
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: dysfunctional-family, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Los Angeles, New Orleans
Period: 21st-century
409 pages · Library Binding · Thorndike Press Large Print
Content warnings: abuse, domestic-violence, emotional-abuse