LIKE FAMILY

Secrets, jealousies, flirtations, and suspicions test the love and friendship among six friends living overlapping lives in the Hudson Valley.

Three couples—one straight and two lesbian—form the core of White’s debut, which begins with a death but then dwells significantly in the interiority of her characters. Caroline Caruso, married to Mike Gallagher, has one child, Luca, and worries constantly that he’s doomed to the loneliness that has marked her own existence. Caroline’s best friend, Ruth Schwartz, is married to wealthy farmer Wyn Huntley. They have four children, the eldest of whom, 16-year-old Siddha, was fathered by Elliot Shepkins, who recently died. Ruth had not yet revealed to Siddha her father’s identity, and as it emerges now, after any chance for the girl to know him, a family rift develops. The third couple is Tobi Fynch and Evie Gold, who run a wildly successful pottery business. Everyone lives in Radclyffe, “nestled between the Hudson River and the Catskill Mountains.” Tobi is Mike’s cousin and, having grown up in the same household, they are very close, so much so that Mike donated his sperm to the pair, resulting in their twins, Nina and Jules. This tangled scenario, with its various backstories, can confuse and takes some time to establish, after which events are few. Tobi is increasingly drawn to undergoing top surgery but doesn’t tell Evie. Ruth reconnects with Florence, a mutual friend of hers and Elliot’s, and a secret affair of sorts begins. Caroline has sessions with a therapist, supposedly for Luca’s benefit but which expose her own issues. And Siddha begins a clandestine relationship with her father’s family. White shifts capably among her characters, edging their concerns forward, but the book’s navel-gazing can seem claustrophobic and repetitive. As a crucible for mature relationships, the book is tidily done, but easy resolutions compound a sense of small-scale domestic drama.

A heartstring-strumming paean to family.