A Family Matter: A Read With Jenna Pick: A Novel, by Claire Lynch

Available now in Paperback, Hardcover, eBook and Audio

Recommended byJulie Snider, author of Chapel Bay Secrets

Why I love this book:

To stay in a unfulfilling marriage or leave? To disclose the truth about a mother’s sexual orientation or lie? To confess that one is dying or stay quiet for the sake of others?

This novel about the life of one family contains a multitude of truths that apply to many families over many generations. A FAMILY MATTER is highly recommended to those who seek a sensitive telling of complicated lives. The prejudice and fear that surround the lives of LGBTQ+ people continues.

Claire Lynch has done us all a service in exposing the pain that spreads as a result, and the love that is possible when we accept one another just the way we are.

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Applause! Applause!

This quietly heart-scorching novel took me one day to read, and I’ll be thinking about it forever. If you think these are dark times for civil rights and non-traditional families, the book’s understated brilliance is to remind you that light-years of progress have happened in our lifetimes. And why we can’t go back.

Barbara Kingslover

Lynch’s debut burns like a sparkler, quick and mesmerizing.

New York Times

A tempered celebration of how far we’ve come.

People “Book of the Week”

Talk a Little, Talk a Lot

All great reads, like this one, have themes or ideas, or just hints, for discussion topics in your book club. Here are a few ideas for you:

A Family Matter begins with two poetic epigraphs: “Peanut Butter” by Eileen Myles and “What Kind of Times Are These” by Adrienne Rich. Read these poems again. How do they introduce the novel and help contextualize its themes and historical issues?

After a difficult diagnosis, Heron continues his daily routine and goes grocery shopping, where he finds temporary comfort climbing into a freezer—confusing customers and staff. How does this scene foreshadow Heron’s journey throughout the novel, and his reactions to challenging moments?

Discuss Dawn’s first meeting with Hazel in July 1982 and the relationship that blossoms in the months that follow. Why does Dawn fall in love so quickly? How is Dawn different around Hazel than she is with her husband, Heron?

When we meet Maggie in 2022, her life appears “normal” from the point of view of her children, husband, coworkers and even herself at times. And yet, Maggie is a little bored and senses something unresolved about her life. How are Maggie’s experiences similar to Dawn’s desires as a young woman?

This novel beautifully interweaves narrative through two time periods. This style creates a dramatic structure in which we learn about Dawn, Heron, and Maggie through their actions over the years. How do jumps in time influence your discoveries as a reader? How does learning about actions taken (or not taken) by our ensemble cast alter our opinions of them?

Discuss the scene where Dawn confesses to Heron in “Words are said” and its fallout. What are their initial and long-term concerns about the family, their jobs, their community?

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A Family Matter: A Read With Jenna Pick: A Novel, by Claire Lynch

Applause! Applause!

Talk a Little, Talk a Lot

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