I’m sorry to say I didn’t really enjoy this one. It was extremely slow paced for the first 75% of the book. The ending picked up speed but by that stage I really just wanted to be finished reading unfortunately.

I found the characters difficult to differentiate between for at least the first half of the book.

The timeline skipping back and forth actually made the plot less effective. Phoebe and Michael sleeping together was a huge plot point but the reader had no context for this when it happened, which made the scene so much less effective for me.

I did enjoy the ending and how everything came together by the end. Thank you to the publishers and author for the chance to give this one a go

I enjoyed this book, but found it hard to become completely engrossed in it. I found it difficult at the beginning to work out who was who, and the constantly shifting timelines were slightly confusing. It's a pleasant enough family saga (which sagged a bit at the end of the book), but the characters are sadly unappealing, so I found it hard to care what happened to any of them.

Mary has raised a family in this house. Watched her children play and laugh and bicker in this house. Today she is getting married in this house, with all her family in attendance.

The wedding celebrations have brought fractured family together for the first time in years: there's Phoebe and her husband Michael, children in tow. The young and sensitive Rosie, with her new partner. Irene, Mary's ex-mother-in-law. Even Emma, Mary's eldest, is back for the wedding - despite being at odds with everyone else.

Set over the course of an English summer's day but punctuated with memories from the past forty years of love and loss, hope and joy, heartbreak and grief, this is the story of a family. Told by a chorus of characters, it is an exploration of the small moments that bring us to where we are, the changes that are brought about by time, and what, despite everything, stays the same.

This novel is phenomenal. I can't explain how skilfully it's written, weaving together flashes from the past with the events of 24 hours. All families are messy and complicated and this is no exception but nothing feels overwritten or too wildly untrue to life.

The love shines through this book and I simply adored it. I urge you to read it

I really enjoyed this book. Set over the course of a warm September day where Mary is preparing to get married, peppered with backstory along the way, it is a look into the relationships of a family; decisions, consequences, love, heartache. The characters, though a bit confusing to start with as to who is who, are well drawn.

Minor spoiler/TW: The story touches on some real life issues that some may find hard to read (including myself) around infertility and loss. However, I felt like the author actually knew what she was talking about. While other authors get this wrong, here the terminology is correct and the emotions an accurate reflection.

The quality of the writing along with the slow burn of a hard hitting story make this a very engaging read.

I would recommend this book and will look out for other works by this author.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book.

Author of The Stranding returns this year with a new novel about family - love, loss, hope and joy and everything in between. This is a gentle read, especially compared to Kate’s debut novel. If you’re looking for the post apocalyptic storyline you won’t get that - this is a different book. But the nuanced prose that has depth, emotion and that takes a quiet and meandering journey to its culmination, is strong once more.

"There could be great things coming for you just around the corner, or there could not. It could all be about to get worse. Life is jumbled up, out of order, random. The loose threads don't just get tied up in a bow."

This book reminds us of the importance of this one life, and as we move slowly through a leisurely afternoon preparing for a celebration of love, we’re taken back and forth between the past and the current day, to understand exactly why and how this fragmented family are coming together.

Characters created from heartache and happiness are abundant in the pages of this book, ones you will be frustrated with and ones you will love. The fragility and strength of a family unit is tested and tried through Kate’s beautiful prose.

I absolutely loved this book once I had worked out who was who, who was related to who, who was a friend of who and when in time was who actually meeting who! Most confusing to begin with and the timing of the chapters really didn’t help. Could definitely do with a little help perhaps with titled chapters and perhaps a list of characters! However, despite my initially confusion once I was onboard with the situation I loved every word, every nuance, all the emotion turmoil and the history. Beautifully written and the characters, once identified, were all so very human. It is Mary’s wedding party and the family are all united at the house for the first time in a very long time. The three sisters, Em, Phoebe and half sister Rosie all arrive eventually but there is much history and Mary is keeping everything crossed that her day will be a happy one and that her children can forget the past just for this one special day. Will Pheobe manage to stay sober, will Em actually arrive, can Richard, the ex husband, behave and how will Michael react when seeing the two sisters together? It was all worth the initial confusion and I realised I was actually holding my breath when reading the last few pages!

This a family saga. It takes time for the reader to work out who is married to whom and who the parents are of the various children. The family is meeting for the remarriage of the mother Mary but there is a former mother in law involved too. Mary is marrying the widowed husband of a close friend. The story is all about family members trying to avoid rowing as they are prone to do. It jumps about in time which can be confusing. It has no climax and nothing to keep the reader engrossed. I am unable to recommend it.

I really enjoyed Sawyer's debut novel The Stranding, I loved its originality and so was very excited to read this one.

Set over one hot end of Summer day, This Family is the story of Mary's family, which is fractured but who have reunited for her wedding day at their family home. The writing is strong, Sawyer writes human emotion well, there were several paragraphs that almost moved me to tears but these pages were sparsely scattered throughout the book. I thought the story started strongly but then the pace slowed. A lot of the drama that resulted in the fracturing of this family is not directly written about in the novel, we just the effects of it. This somewhat effected the pace of the book for me. Also, the book lacked the originality I was probably expecting from this author. That's not to say the book was bad, it isn't , its a take on a story I have read many times before. Its well handled and well written but over all I was maybe a little disappointed or maybe my expectations were too high.

I liked but didn't love this. Its a solid well written read just missed that spark of magic that elevates a well written book to a memorable hard to put down one.

3.- 3.5 stars.

This is a really great book, set on one day but spanning generations. It begins with Mary making preparations for her wedding, and gradually we are introduced to various members of her family. Mary is such a likeable character. We are taken into her past and see her as a younger woman, get to see her fears and anxieties, her stresses of dealing with her mother-in-law as a young parent, and so on.
She is very relatable. Having had her husband Richard's infidelity to deal with, plus feuds between her children, she's now determined to have a day that's just about her. It's telling how she took in Richard's daughter from his second wife, Rosie, and made an effort to make her feel at home. Rosie and Mary's daughters, Phoebe and Emma, have fraught relationships with each other that are gradually illuminated as the novel goes on.
We don't find out who Mary's husband-to-be is until later in the book, and it's lovely to find out who it is. The book does a great job in developing the relationship between them.
It's very clever at being a book where, on the surface, not an awful lot happens but at the same time, it's actually describing momentous and life-changing events. This is a book to read when you really want to get your teeth into something - brilliantly written with fantastic characters and lots of love.

An engaging enjoyable book about one family set during one hot September day at a family party to celebrate a wedding. The story goes between the present and alternate chapters dip into the past through various family members so the background and family dynamics cleverly evolves. Wonderful well drawn characters with plenty of drama with the various ups and downs that can affect any family plus many intriguing relationships which are not apparent at first. Delightful descriptions of the party taking place at the rambling Suffolk family home that the reader can easily envisage the whole scene and escape with. Definitely worth reading .

I adored this story that explores one family’s ties, untangling each lucid thread before joining them together again to form a beautifully wrought whole. The structure is a delicately balanced thing that switches between one day in the present and past episodes, gradually feeding you more information, anticipating what you want to know and what’s necessary to understand the dynamics of now.
The three sisters are such clear characters – the sort you miss as soon as you’ve finished the book. Kate Sawyer also weaves in historical events with a light touch and there’s a strongly cinematic feel to events in the past and the present – Sawyer was an actor before being a novelist and her sense of what will come to life on the screen shines through.
A gorgeous book that touches on grief, regret and transgressions that seem impossible to forgive. With its shifting perspectives, this is a book that mirrors the complexities of family life and the messy business of being human, but also gives us hope.

A very Joanna Trollope-like novel about a family living in the leafy suburbs, using the upcoming second marriage of the Mary in the once family home and the location for reminiscing. What caused the family to fracture and can coming together for Mary’s marriage lead to a healing?
Well observed and described unfortunately just a tad bland for me.

The second novel from The Stranding author Kate Sawyer, This Family centres on Mary and (unsurprisingly) her family, who despite some splintered relationships, have come together to celebrate Mary’s wedding in the home they grew up in, which is soon to be sold to a new young family. Set over the course of a hot September day in East Anglia, with alternate chapters dipping into different timelines over their lives, we hear from each character’s voice.

The Stranding was one of my favourite reads last year so of course, I was elated to be approved for Kate Sawyer's new novel on NetGalley. It took me a while to get my head around the who’s who of this book but once I hit around 40% I was fully into it and invested in all their unravelling stories. Sawyer conveys perfectly how families are messy and can hurt each other, but even after the most shocking of events, it can still be possible to come together and be a family again. A measured and brooding read wonderfully depicting the peaks and troughs of family life.

𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘍𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘺 is the much awaited second novel from Kate Sawyer, author of the very successful 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘚𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨. Classed as a family drama, the book revolves around a wedding and the family members who gather to celebrate. ⁣
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Mary Roberts, matriarch, is getting married but to whom is not revealed until later in in the book. Her children, partners, ex-husband and grandchildren gather to celebrate. But there’s a tension in the air, something as yet unexplained, with Mary praying that her family can hold it together for just one day. The family are an interesting mix. There’s Phoebe, a recovering alcoholic, her sister Emma and actor Michael, Emma’s ex-husband and now Phoebes partner. Their Dad Richard is a political commentator who regularly pops up on BBC Newsnight. ⁣
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It took me several chapters to understand the family dynamic which was not initially straightforward. The story flowed a lot better after that. I would compare this novel to those of Joanna Trollope, an author I loved and read widely in the 1990s. Trollope was a master at writing about middle class rural England and the intricacies of family relations and this book is in the same vein. Well observed characters, a plot which meandered at times but an engaging novel which I read while away in the sun for a few days. 3⭐️⁣
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Many thanks to @netgalley and @hodderstoughton for this ARC in return for my honest review.

The book centres around Mary and her family who live in a big rambling house in Suffolk.
I found this story a bit confusing to start with as it flits backwards and forwards over a period of forty years. However I persevered, and I'm so glad I did. This chaotic family's life is quite gripping. Their trial and tribulations are fascinating. I enjoyed it more and more as I read on.
One of the best books I've read in a long time.

A gem of a book. Set over the course of one day, it is a literary triumph. Sawyer peels back the fragile layers of Mary’s family, revealing every discordant note and capturing all the relationship nuances.

Not for me. It just feels too ordinary. It doesn't have the voice to transform the everyday details of tablecloths and bricks and a child's shoe into a compelling story.

The opening sentence is so prosaic. This is the author's opportunity to grab the reader with what's distinctive and interesting about their book. Maybe I'm rushing to judgement but that's all many browsers will look at before deciding whether to buy. DNF

There are some very well written moments in this book and some deep emotions are evoked with tragic losses and some painful heartbreaking scenes. Kate Sawyer is able to convey these moments with clarity and depth.

However, I wasn’t emotionally attached to the characters enough to have loved this book. Perhaps there were too many characters and the timeline was confusing at times. I am an absolute sucker for a messed-up time line so this surprised me. I was disappointed by that.

That’s said, this is book which I read to the end, and enjoyed.

A complicated family revolving around their past history and a big family event in the present.
After many misunderstandings the family can come together and celebrate.
I found the changes in the time line difficult to follow at times as reading through, there is no indication that the time has changed.
Because of this I found it difficult to engage with the characters but I enjoyed the story.

A really interesting read.This story centre's around Mary and her complicated family who she hope's will all come together for her wedding day.Her daughters and her wider family all have many issues and problems and the story is set in one day but many troubles and some heartbreaking memories that come to light throughout the book. Some fantastic characters and most of them flawed but it's so well written that they come across as people you can warm and relate to .I loved it