‘Other Family’ reveals the heart of adoption
‘Warrior’ out in ’23
‘Any Other Family’ by Eleanor Brown (G. P. Putnam’s Sons) What does it mean to be a family? That’s the central question explored in Eleanor Brown’s new novel, “Any Other Family.”
Featuring three sets of parents who between them have adopted four biological siblings from the same mother, the story is set during a two-week vacation in Aspen, Colorado. Tabitha, the chief architect of the new family and adoptive mother to twins Tate and Taylor, is determined to create a stable environment for the children. They all live relatively near one another and have Sunday family dinners as well as holiday celebrations together. This is their first two-week vacation as a family, though, and there’s tension from the start.
Elizabeth, the youngest of the moms with the youngest adopted daughter, Violet, exhibits classic signs of postpartum depression. Her journey during the novel involves realizing that it can happen to adoptive moms just as readily as moms who have given birth. After years of unsuccessful fertility treatments, she and her husband, John, accidentally met Tabitha (quite literally, when Elizabeth rear-ended Tabitha’s car) and are suddenly adoptive parents before giving themselves time to grieve for all the embryos they lost during IVF.
Ginger is an older, single mom to the oldest sibling, Phoebe. She’s wary of the forced family relationship, but in part due to what transpires during the two-week vacation, she comes to appreciate the support the family provides.
Classic
Tabitha is the classic mother hen, organizing all the activities, cooking or catering the food, and doing everything she can to cement the family together, even as the other moms sometimes resent her eagerness.
There are multiple references to Brianna, the birth mother of all the children, and the central action of the novel is set in motion by a phone call. Brianna is pregnant again and wants to give them the option of adopting her fifth biological child. But Brianna’s story is not central to the novel. Brown is interested in the dynamics of the nascent modern family she’s created and the bonds the mothers have formed that are starting to fray. She writes in the prologue: “Theirs is a strange way to become a family… though how is it any stranger than any other way people create families, based on things no more scientific than the accidents of genetics… or simply rather liking the look of someone on a particular Tuesday night? At least they have a purpose, a reason to stick together, a common cause: the children they love as much as any parent, maybe even more.”
The Author’s Note at the end of the novel reveals that Brown herself is an adoptive mother and it’s clear from the story she’s written that she thinks deeply about the issue. There’s real empathy written into each character and the novel serves as a hearty endorsement for open adoption, when the biological and adoptive parents both play roles in a child’s life. The book won’t appeal to everyone, but readers who appreciate fiction that shows them how others choose to live, will enjoy the heart at the core of “Any Other Family.”
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NEW YORK: Children’s author Angeline Boulley will soon return her many readers to the world of her prizewinning debut novel “Firekeeper’s Daughter.”
Henry Holt Books for Young Readers announced Friday that Boulley’s “Warrior Girl Unearthed” will come out May 2023. Like its predecessor, “Warrior Girl Unearthed” will be set in an Ojibwe community, focusing on a teenage girl who learns of a plot to make money off the theft of Indigenous graves. Holt calls the book “a complex and compelling mystery, effortlessly exploring themes of identity, family, and reclamation in a Native community.”
Boulley’s book will be illustrated by Michaela Goade, whose drawings for “We Are Water Protectors” brought her a Caldecott Medal for outstanding illustration of a children’s book.
Boulley’s bestselling first book, also featuring a young protagonist, received numerous awards, was selected for Reese Witherspoon’s book club and is being adapted by Barack and Michelle Obama’s production company for Netflix.
“I revel in telling stories about Ojibwe teenagers strong in their culture and language — who love their communities,” Boulley said in a statement. “Young people protecting and caring for their elders and ancestors are an inspiration to me and, I hope, to readers everywhere.”
LOS ANGELES: The Justice Department’s effort to block the merger of Penguin Random House and Simon & Schuster isn’t just a showcase for the Biden administration’s tougher approach to corporate consolidation, it’s a rare moment for the publishing industry itself to be placed in the dock.
Through the first week of an expected two- to threeweek trial in U.S. District Court in Washington, top publishing executives at Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster and elsewhere, along with agents and such authors as Stephen King, have shared opinions, relived disappointments and revealed financial figures they otherwise would have preferred to discuss privately or confide on background with reporters.
“I apologize for the passionate language,” Penguin Random House CEO Markus Dohle testified about correspondence exhibited in court that reflected tensions between him and other Penguin Random House executives. “These are private text messages to my closest collaborators in the company.”
The government is trying to demonstrate that the merger will lead to less competition for bestselling authors, lowering their advances and reducing the number of books. The Justice Department contends that the top publishers, which also include Hachette, HarperCollins Publishers and Macmillan, already dominate the market for popular books and writers and have effectively made it near-impossible for any smaller publisher to break through.
Penguin Random House and others argue that the market is dynamic and unpredictable, with competitors from university presses to Amazon.com capable of turning out bestsellers.
Like any other self-contained community, book industry professionals speak in a kind of shorthand and follow customs that are instinctive to them and at times unclear to outsiders. (AP)