First Published: 2018
RATING: GOOD
SPOILERS!!!
The Pipers get together every Sunday for lunch where they share laughter, cries and conversation. With every lunch we get to know them better.
The main character is Anna Piper, who has a accesories company with her ex-husband, Sam. Recently Anna had a sexual encounter with Dylan, a DJ hired for one of the lunches, and as a consequence, she gets pregnant, and she decides to have the baby.
Anna has three other siblings. There is Neil, who after many years came out as gay, and he is in a relationship with Santi, and they have adopted a baby, Paloma.
Maeve is her sister, who has a irregular kind of life. When she was very young, she got together with Alva and lived in a squat. Then she got pregnant and had a son, Storm, who is now thirteen. Alva proved to be a good father, but Maeve got tired, so they separated. Alva still supports his child even though he is now married and has two other children. Maeve is a free spirit, who believes in vegetarism and is always on the lookout for true love.
Josh is the youngest sibling, and from the first moment we get to realize that he is unstable and has problems.
And there is Dinkie, the Pipers' grandmother, who is a pillar in the family. Anna's parents moved to California, and little by little we discover that they have never supported their children.
The book takes us through Anna's pregnancy and in every Sunday lunch the family have. Anna meets Lucas, Josh's therapist, and they hit it off from the beginning. Anna thinks that their relationship is doomed because at the very beginning when Lucas didn't know that she was pregnant, he said that he didn't like children.
Anna has a secret which is connected with some letters which she has received from someone called Carly. We discover that Anna got pregnant when she was sixteen and her father forced her to give the baby away. These letters which she receives are full of hatred. When Anna tracks down Carly, she sends her a note, inviting her to meet her, and she also tells Sam, who is Carly's dad. The meeting does not go well because Carly is bitter, adn she says that she was loved by her adoptive parents. Anna wrote a note before giving her away and put it in her moses basket, telling her how she loved her very much. Carly hands the note back to Anna, and then she discovers that the note was hateful; it wasn't her note and she realises that her father must have changed the notes, and she writes to Carly, but she does not hear from her for a while.
Anna and Lucas break up because she discovers a photograph of him with a woman. Lucas won't disabuse her of the notion. Then weeks later Anna finds out that the woman in the photograph is Josh. He admits that he has never felt comfortable with his own gender, and he wants to transition.
It is when Anna goes into labour on Christmas Day that Lucas reappears and takes her to hospital, and he confesses that he loves her and wants to be there for her and the baby girl. Carly also comes to the hospital and they talk. She has her own daughter with her, who is called Holly, and Anna names her new daughter Ivy.
Apart from Anna's storyline, Neil and Santi have an interesting subplot. Santi is much younger than Neil, and Neil thinks that Santi is with him for his money, and he is also unsure about his relationship with Paloma. Santi proves to him that he loves him, and Neil also discovers how much he loves Paloma when the girl chokes and almost suffocates.
Maeve also has her issues. First, Alva and his family go to live in Boston and tells her that Storm should go to live with him. Storm travels there accompanied by Anna and Lucas, and he seems to be enjoying himself, but he decides to go back to his mum because he knows she needs him. Maeve starts dating Paul, who seems to be a real catch. Yet, he is not such a good man when Anna sees him with his wife and children. Then he explains that his wife is sick and Maeve is his way to freedom. Anna gives him a piece of his mind, and Maeve realises that Paul doesn't deserve her love and kicks him out.
Dinky, who lives in a home, is not happy living there, but she hides the truth from her grandchildren even though her carer, Sheba, wants her to tell them. In the end Dinky speaks up and then she decides to move in with Josh to look after him after the surgery.
I enjoyed the book. A lovely family tale.
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