When Alec’s health starts to fail, Miller becomes more involved in his estate, uncovering a tangled web of complications he’s facing, including uncooperative renters, his declining physical condition, and financial strain. When he dies, Miller assumes the role of orchestrating his final affairs, in the process stumbling onto a family secret that changes her world forever—and opens a door to the familial ties that she’s always longed for. Readers will empathize with Miller, as she recounts secret after secret that come crashing down, musing “is there some golden rule dictating how many times a person can successfully undergo personal reinvention?”
This riveting and emotive journey through tumultuous family dynamics teaches the importance of holding onto one's faith, ultimately allowing acceptance and forgiveness to win out in the end. Through her unflinching honesty, Miller explores prejudice, found family, emotional abuse, and the rippling effects of dark family secrets; despite those weighty themes, she writes with a relatable, encouraging tone that results in an uplifting and impactful narrative. The twists are shocking, uncovered as Miller digs into the buried grit of her father’s past, but she delivers them against a backdrop of faith and love, summing it all up with the wise insight that “we all have skeletons.”
Takeaway: Emotional memoir of family secrets, grief, and, ultimately, forgiveness.
Comparable Titles: Gail Lukasik's White Like Her, Judy Bolton-Fasman's Asylum.
Production grades
Cover: A-
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A
Marketing copy: A
