Author:  Joanna Trollope
Title:  The Other Family
Publisher:  Simon & Schuster Adult

Leo Tolstoy famously told us "Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." In The Other Family, Joanna Trollope takes that a step further, showing us how each member of one man's two families is unhappy in his or her own way.

Yes, two families. Richie was married and the father of a thirteen-year-old son when he met Chrissie, a much younger woman who persuaded him to leave his family and move with her to London. He was a musician; she became his manager, made him a star, and gave him three daughters. In return, he gave her a comfortable lifestyle and a fantastic wardrobe, but never ponied up with the one thing she really wanted—a wedding ring.

The story opens as Chrissie and the girls arrive home from the hospital after Richie's unexpected death from a sudden heart attack. Not only is this a shock—he was a much-loved member of the family, after all—it's a bit of an awkward social situation. Although Chrissie was Richie's recognized consort for years, she is not his widow. Not only did he never marry her, he never divorced his first wife, Margaret. Now that he's gone, where does that leave Chrissi?

To make matters even worse, Richie left Margaret and her son a surprising bequest in his will. It's a nasty shock for Chrissie that leads to all sorts of emotional and financial repercussions for both families.

Much of the tension in the book comes when the two families cross paths. Both mothers are quite happy to ignore each other's existence, but Chrissie's youngest daughter, Amy—a girl with a strong sense of justice—contacts her half-brother, with unexpected consequences.

This is what I think of as a particularly British type of book. It's not packed with plot twists and turns, just the individual stories of Richie's survivors as they adjust to his death. Fans of Maeve Binchy's novels will recognize Trollope's similar treatment of the simmering inner turmoil that slowly drives the characters to come to grips with their new life. This is not to say it's a slow or boring read. The characters are well-rounded and sympathetic and Trollope's style is so smooth that whole chapters pass by before you know it.

Speaking of the characters, Trollope does an amazing job keeping all their stories moving along while making the reader care about each of them. There's no "main character" in the book. Chrissie and her three daughters, Margaret and her son, even a couple of friends and business associates are all given their due. It's quite a feat and all the more impressive because it appears so effortless. By the last page, readers may feel they, too, are part of the family.


**This review first published on April 27, 2010.