by Lee Woodruff
First published 2012
Maura Corrigan walks alongside her son James as he pedals his bicycle toward school on a June morning. The nine-year-old suddenly veers into the street. Alex, their seventeen-year-old neighbor, strikes him with his car. James dies from his injuries. The tragedy fractures the Corrigan family in ways they never expected. Hidden secrets surface. Old betrayals resurface. Relationships that seemed solid begin to crumble under the weight of grief and blame. Four family members struggle to navigate their new reality. Each confronts personal failures and difficult choices. Maura questions her role as a mother. Other family members examine their own complicity in long-buried conflicts. The accident forces everyone to reckon with how they treat those closest to them. As they work through their pain, they must decide whether forgiveness is possible. The family discovers that healing requires confronting uncomfortable truths about themselves and each other.
Genres: fiction, literary-fiction, contemporary, family-drama
Vibes: emotional-atmospheric, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: family-drama, grief, tragedy
320 pages · Hardcover · Hyperion
Content warnings: death