Overcoming a familial tragedy
Families are full of pain, betrayals and regrets. It is this complicated relationship that American memoirist and literary agent Bill Clegg so skilfully explores in his first novel, Did You Ever Have a Family.
June Reid and Lydia Morey’s lives are shattered when, on the eve of a family wedding, much of the wedding party is killed after an explosion at June’s home.
At 52, it is June’s first time alone; Lydia, however, is used to being lonely. Despite living in small-town Wells, Conn., all her life, Lydia has been ostracized since elementary school. What makes the grieving process so much harder for both women is the suffocating guilt each feels because of their strained relationships with their loved ones.
Skilfully shifting between first and third person, the story alternates between the protagonists and various other people touched by the tragedy, each providing further insight into the minds of June and Lydia.
The shifts demonstrate how each character has suffered hardship, but with the exception of a few, all have been able to move forward. Yet Did You Ever Have a Family is a hopeful and compassionate novel. Despite the magnitude of June’s and Lydia’s grief, each will find redemption — and family — where least expected.
Clegg’s novel comes close to being a masterpiece — it’s already nominated for the 2015 Man Booker Prize. His characters are so well drawn that I feel I know them. I read it with urgency, wanting to reach the end so I could savour the novel all over again. Did You Ever Have a Family is that rare work of literary genius you crave, but rarely find. Elizabeth Warkentin is a Montrealbased freelance writer. Reach her at elizabethwarkentin.com.