I started this but didn’t get far.
Not happy about giving up but I was just not in the mood for such a slow book.
Maybe I’ll give it another go in future.
It’s not fair of me to give a star rating at this stage but it seems I have to to enable me to submit.
Sorry…

A beautiful story. Cleverly interweaving the past and the present with a gentle shift between different perspectives , there is nothing not to love about this book. Each character may be flawed but they reinforce what it is to be a family and make a small part of you want to be a part of theirs.

Mary is getting married for the second time. She’s hosting a celebratory meal for the whole family and her ex-husband is on hand to cook a hog roast. Everyone has promised to behave; they all agree that Mary deserves her hard won happiness. Poor Mary – that she still has to worry that her adult daughters may cause havoc. We wonder why.
Kate Sawyer takes us to and fro across almost four decades from the moment that Mary and Richard buy their ramshackle house on the edge of a Suffolk village to the current day. We see Mary’s three daughters, Emma, Phoebe and Rosie, as children, adolescents and adults and learn why they have such difficult relationships with each other. In the final stages of the novel, Mary holds forth about the importance of family: ‘Hold on to each other, girls. You don’t know how long you’ll have the chance to.’ she advises.
Sawyer is clearly very interested in family dynamics and her characters are plausibly flawed, other than grandmother Irene who is more of a cartoon than an exploration of female old-age. The writer is also adept at structuring her narrative so that we gradually learn how and why individuals become who they are over the years. Occasionally the narrative feels ‘overstuffed’ with references to key twenty-first century events and some character traits are under-developed to the point where one wonders why they have even been mentioned. Nevertheless, ‘This Family’ is an engaging saga and should appeal to a wide readership.
My thanks to NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton for a copy of this book in exchange for a fair review.

Mary is getting married. And for her special day, all she wants is her fractured and complicated family back together.
Best friends, lovers, daughters, ex-husbands... an annoying Mother-in-law she just can’t get rid of, must all come together. Hopefully without World War 3 breaking out.
Kate Sawyer is just brilliant at weaving tales of the past with present day, allowing you to get to know all the characters in depth over decades. You can't help but turn page after page to find out more about Mary’s dysfunctional family, I read it in one sitting, I just couldn’t put the book down!
“This Family” by Kate Sawyer is out on 11th May 2023, pre-order your copy now!

I really enjoyed this and will definitely be recommending it.
Sawyer is masterful in her exploration of the complex family dynamics at the heart of the novel, and it reminded me very much of the work of Anne Enright and Anne Tyler. I loved all of the different perspectives, and the characters are almost all very well developed.
There are some wonderful surprises too as the story progress, which kept me intrigued all the way through.
Sawyer throughly explores the concept of family and its many different meanings, and while it could be classed as a pandemic novel, this is very much a background theme.
I did feel that it would have been nice to see a little more of the development of the relationship between Mary and the person she is marrying on the day featured in the story (we don't find out who it is until about halfway through so I don't want to spoil it by naming them). There is reference to a main character's bisexuality also, which is never developed and feels a bit tokenistic. However, these quibbles didn't spoil my enjoyment of the novel as a whole.

I loved the Stranding and this book This Family was a worthy successor.
I very much enjoyed being immersed in this big complicated family and gradually getting to know different members more fully as the story evolved .The book is told on a mixture of flashbacks and present time as the matriarch gets her family back together to celebrate her 2nd marriage.
The author has the ability to define characters so well that you really feel by the end of the story that you know them all and I could recognise my own friends and family members in them
I loved the way that the flashback sequences were so tightly placed in time by snippets of topical news by music that was playing at the time and by the novel the character was reading at the time .I also loved the way the author threaded smells into the story as they are so evocative when it comes to memory
There were some scenes that had me in floods of tears ,the sisters reunion really left me in bits
I would recommend the book to those who live a relationship novel there are similarities to the writing of David Nicholls Us and starter for ten
I read an early copy on NetGalley Uk the book is published in the Uk on 13th May 2023 by Hodder and Stoughton.This review will be published on NetGalley Uk ,Goodreads and my Wordpress book Blog Bionic Sarah’s Books

Mary is getting remarried, in the house where she raised her children and stepchildren, where she watched her family grow up and then ultimately grow apart.

This family has been broken for some time, but today they will all be together for the first in time in years. Marys daughters, Phoebe, Rosie and Emma together in their childhood home despite the emotional and physical distance that has been pushing them further apart.

And on this sunny afternoon, the house will tell a story about this family. About the family they used to be, the one that is, and hopefully the one there still might be.

"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."

Unless you're very lucky, we've all been in those moments where you'd love to be surrounded by your family but the broken and fraying branches in that family tree make it almost impossible. This authentic and touching story about a family in pieces offers a look into someone else's life for a moment and honest reflections on the profound impact that our born and chosen families have on our lives.

The story swiftly switched between that one beautiful day in Suffolk and the day of the past - it doesn't clearly state the changes but there's a definite tone and tense shift between the sections. It moves slowly, leisurely like a summer afternoon - there are no sudden twists or shocking reveals. In fact, not much happens at all but this actually adds to the very real charm of the story instead of taking away from it. All the secrets and emotions come to the surface naturally, quietly and genuinely, giving us time to take it in and let us exist in the moment and immersing us in a beautifully sun-kissed setting. This is the kind of the story that shows the loudest voice isn't always the most powerful, with this poetic, lyric and delicate prose that remains powerful and evocative through its silence.

Every character is so beautifully real - made up of heartache, happiness, of people they've loved and hated. I found something in al of them that moved me and made me think of my own family, the beautiful and the dysfunctional parts. It was so simple to find a connection with them, and understand how the ties between have changed over time. I adored how the family in this story isn't just the typical - it's ex husbands, in-laws, friends, half siblings, relatives - all complex with their own beautifully meaningful connections.

A triumphant tale that reminds us about both the fragility, and the unwavering strength of love in all it's forms.

This house. This family.

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.
This novel centres around three daughters Emma , Phoebe and Rosie and the fractured relationships between the older two. Family life , friends and partners all come together for a wedding and Mary the matriarch worries about whether her wedding will be spoilt by quarrels and upset she tells them to come but no arguments on her day. The novel is in duel timelines and as different characters tell their past story and how they are now make a wonderful read . A novel full of family, heartache and reconnection . I loved The Stranding it was a top read for me in 2021 and so was really thrilled to get a copy early from @netgalley . This Family is released on May 11th go reserve it ! Thanks to @coronetbooks and ofcourse @mskatesawyer

This Family is Kate Sawyer’s second novel, the follow up to her debut novel The Stranding about a woman who climbs into the mouth of a whale at the end of the world. I adored The Stranding and haven’t stopped recommending it since 2021.

I have This Family pre-ordered but was overjoyed to receive an advance copy of the ebook via Netgalley. I saved it for a break away sans kids so that I could enjoy it without interruption.

This Family is set on a sultry September day and features a family gathering together in the garden of their home in Suffolk in the shade of a willow tree to celebrate a special occasion. Mary, the matriarch, is hoping everyone can get along for just this one day.

In a dual timeline that switches cleverly from the day itself to the past (no specific dates are given but the switch from present to past tense denotes the change), we begin to understand the threads that hold this family together, and the stitches that have torn apart over the years.

This is a slow-paced, absorbing read, beautifully written and packed with emotion and empathy. There are layers that are slowly revealed, never in any sensational or showy way, but organically and tenderly.

It reminded me of a few books I’ve read in recent years - the reflective tone and tenderness of Nothing But Blue Sky, the quiet, humming prose of Tessa Hadley’s Free Love and the immersive family saga The Paper Palace, which was a little too cynical for my taste, something happily absent here.

There’s a quiet acknowledgment that life happens in the margins sometimes. Unexpected friendships, quiet conversations, immeasurable losses, joys and disappointments in our private lives that others might never know about. This book builds a picture of all of it for one family, the complications, the chaos and the calm, never casting judgment on any one person.

I’m so glad to have read This Family and it’s a book I’ll re-read when my copy arrives in May.

*This Family will be published in May by @coronetbooks. Sincere thanks to the author, the publisher and @netgalley for the arc.*

Enjoyable book about a dysfunctional family who come together for the wedding of their mother, Mary, who just wants her wedding day to be perfect and for her 3 daughters to get along for one day. The book tells the story by going backwards and forwards in time and, while a little difficult for a fast reader like myself to keep track of, it did keep me guessing and wondering all the way through as the story slowly unfolded. The book was beautifully written and the character interesting, I really wanted a happy ending for them all….but I guess you’ll just have to read it to find out….

A poignant, quietly solemn, rich exploration of family life through the years. I adored the characterisation and found the plot so compelling, how the layers were intricately woven together, unravelling page by page. I loved The Stranding and The Family lived up all to all expectations.

I think that second books for authors can be a bit hit or miss. I had high hopes for "This Family" by Kate Sawyer as "The Stranding" was perhaps one of my favourite books that I'd read in the last few years. Sadly this just missed the mark for me. It was difficult to understand what was going on as just as the scene was just being set, the plot jumped to another timeline. I did enjoy the book at around the 60% mark but then it kind of unraveled again for me. If you are into family sagas then this book might be for you, but I'm not.

I was recommended this book by the author of The Garnett Girls as I’m a huge fan of a family saga. The Most Fun We Ever Had is one of my all time favourite books and I’m always chasing for something even close to it. This Family was an incredible read, it had everything I love with a family saga, the complicated relationships, the secrets and twists and the underlying love. It was so vivid in the descriptions that I felt as if I knew all the characters so well that I was a guest at the wedding for a moment. Stunning!

I was so keen to get my hands on this book.
So happy when I did.
For me it started off slow, and whilst I turned the pages, I realised how much I was beginning to like these characters. All of them, despite some faults.
I was also building up a list of questions , all the who and why and what and whens of this particular family.
Some references to moments in time, that took me right back to there.
A slight slow burner of a book for me, but by the end, my eyes might have been a bit moist.

I found this book very readable, with enough little clues dangled throughout to make me want to keep reading and know more. There were some good twists that gave background to some of the main events, and the main characters all seemed to interact enough. I would have liked to know more about how Rosie came to join the family (as in why did Mary allow it, what discussions were had etc.) and how that went in the beginning, and how her relationship with Mary developed. I feel like that could have been a very important part of the story but it wasn't really alluded to, especially as the impact it would have had on Phoebe could be explored further.
The setting was perfect for telling the story and including everything.
I will definitely read more by this author in future.