Claire Lynch’s A Family Matter is the latest pick for Jenna Bush Hager’s Today show book club.
Lynch’s debut novel is scheduled for publication next week by Scribner. It follows Heron, an older man recently diagnosed with terminal cancer, and his daughter, Maggie, whom Heron raised after his divorce from Dawn, who had an affair with a woman while they were married. A critic for Kirkus called the book “an affecting exploration of the shelf life of love.”
Hager announced the book’s selection on the morning show, saying, “If you love stories about families with big secrets, loaded with unexpected twists and turns, this one’s for you.…This book’s about first love, second chances, and the beautiful, messy ways families hold together and fall apart.”
Lynch talked about the book with Today.com, saying, “One of the things I tried really hard to do is to have Heron, in particular, not be a bad guy at all. He just does what everyone feels is kind of the right thing and what’s kind of normal for a person in his time and place. And so, if we’re all doing what feels normal in our time and place, who might we be hurting at the same time? What are we doing that’s just kind of playing along and, you know, who gets left by the wayside?”
Michael Schaub is a contributing writer.
