I have had to let this emotional story settle in my mind for a few days before writing a review.
First of all, the quality of writing is excellent and the description of the characters so good that I felt I knew them by the end of the book.

Heron has some shattering news but doesn’t immediately share it with his daughter Maggie which is in some ways surprising as he has brought her up alone after his wife Dawn left the family home when Maggie was three years old. It is difficult to describe Heron and Maggie’s relationship. He is there for her in practical ways and always on hand to repair items around the home she shares with her husband and two children. As Heron himself admits this is the way he shows his love for her. He is clearly not a demonstrative person when it comes to showing affection. Heron, it seems does carry some guilt for taking the action he took in the past which was not entirely his fault as his mother and the legal system took a hand in telling him what he should do in the situation.

We meet Dawn, Maggie’s Mum in 1982 and it is clear that she loves Maggie dearly so what can possibly have happened to make her leave her three year old child? It soon became clear that once the court knew of Dawn’s relationship with Hazel she stood absolutely no chance of keeping her daughter.
When I found out I was shocked and devastated. How could this happen in the early 1980’s and be considered in the best interests of a small child? Dawn never left Maggie, she was taken from her.

I felt such sadness for Dawn and was so happy when mother and her grown up daughter were reunited but what a price Dawn had to pay for following her heart, her child snatched away from her. Even though she did her best to keep Maggie the court system was loaded against her. Time lost with her young daughter, never to be recovered. My thanks to the author and NetGalley for an advanced reading copy of this book.

A Family Matter by Claire Lynch

Set in 1982 and 2022 we discover how Heron, now at the end of his life, came to bring up his daughter Maggie alone, and how Dawn his ex-wife was banished from their lives.

Wow, this book is perfection and deserves to win prizes! It's short but really packs a punch - so beautiful and powerful. The author's characters are so real and the story so heartbreaking and rage-inducing. Honestly it's just perfection... very VERY highly recommended.

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

I was honestly blown away by this book and the journey the author managed to take us on in a fairly short book. It’s really is a blistering debut.

The book starts out quite light hearted which was surprising considering it starts with a cancer diagnosis. As the story winds on and we meet all the characters we quickly become invested in them. It’s a testament to the authors writing prowess that she manages to make them all feel so full without resorting to overly lengthy and prosaic prose.

As the story progresses it quickly becomes clear that there is more at play than just people who aren’t happy about how their lives have turned out. When the penny drops at about the half way point and the ending we are hurtling towards becomes painfully clear you have no choice but to hold on and ride it out.

It’s truly heartbreaking and painful to realise that this story represents what so many people had to experience not so long ago. This will stay with me for a long time.

Thank you to NetGalley and RandomHouse for the eARC

I would rate this 10 stars if I could. I don’t know if I’m going to be able to put into words just how much I loved this book.

This is probably one of the most unique and outstanding pieces of work I have ever read. It evoked so many emotions. It broke my heart and it warmed my heart.

The dual timeline is perfectly used - it doesn’t cause any confusion but instead allows the reader to gain an understanding of the bigger picture and to get to know the characters.

The author very delicately, respectfully and perfectly captures how different things were in the 1980s - for parents, for queer people, for children.

I can’t wait to get my hands on a physical copy of this book, it will stay on my shelf forever!

Phenomenal. I will be thinking about this book for a long time, couldn’t reccomend it more. Such an important read. Highly emotive, moving and devastating.

One family, 3 generations. A young couple are living a traditional life in the early 1980s. Married, house, working husband, stay-at-home Mum devoted to her young child. But when Dawn strays out of this existence she is punished in the most inhuman way by society’s views.
Flash forward to 2022 when the ex-husband gets devastating news he struggles to tell his now grown-up daughter as he is simply unused to sharing personal details. Only when he is clearing out his belongings does she discover what he has withheld from her throughout her life growing up with no Mum.
Upsetting to hear men with power could determine women’s fates only 40 years ago, this is a family drama with some nuanced characters.

This is one of those strange books that left me feeling nothing. The plot is very slow, with little happening. It is like a conversation between a couple of people that jumps all over without ever really going anywhere. The gist of the story is a family with a young child, the mother is dissatisfied and finds love with another woman, leading to her husband seeking custody. The story veers between the past and present, now told from the point of view of the child who has grown up and has a family of her own. Nothing unexpected happens, the story follows exactly as you would predict. I think the author wants people to learn about lesbian mothers losing custody as that gets covered in the acknowledgements, but the emotions of that never really came through in the book for me. Overall, it just left me feeling meh, but I hope it finds its audience out there.
Thanks NetGalley for the ARC in return for an honest review.

Book review: A family matter , by @clairellynch .
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A mother following her heart
A father with the law on his side
A child caught in the middle

It’s 2022, and Heron, an old man of quiet habits, has just had the sort of visit to the doctor that turns a life upside down. Sharing the diagnosis with Maggie, his only daughter, seems impossible. Heron just can’t find the words to tell her about it, or any of the other things he’s been protecting her from for so long.

It’s 1982, and Dawn is a young wife and mother penned in by the expectations of her time and place. Then Hazel comes into her life like a torch in the dark. It’s the kind of connection that’s impossible to resist, and suddenly Dawn’s world is more joyful, and more complicated, than she ever expected. But Dawn has responsibilities, she has commitments: Dawn has Maggie..
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Oh what a emotional and wonderful book. I went in blind with this book , not sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing . This was such an emotional rollercoaster of a book cannot believe that the events in this book actually took place in the 1980s. We have come so far as a society with LGBTQ we have still a long way to go get .
This book had my whole heart and more. I was so shocked with the events that happened as the main character Heron did not come across the person he was years ago . @clairellynch your writing is phenomenal..
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#bookish #bookworm #bookaholic #booksbooksbooks #booksofinstagram #netgalley #booknerd #bookstack #bookstagramer #bookblogger

When I started this book., I very nearly gave it up but I am glad I carried on as it is a good story which is likely reality for some people.

Maggie was brought up by her father Heron because her mother Dawn left them for another man, or so she has been told. In fact, Dawn fell in love with another woman and the family courts in 1982 were very cruel to lesbians.
As an adult with her own family, Maggie finds out the truth about why Dawn left and is shocked that her parents made the decisions they did. The book is told from the time of the separation and back to the present day where Maggie is dealing with her feelings about the revelations.
The writing is very low key for the subject matter, it is a sad story. I felt so sorry for Dawn.
Recommended.

Thank you to Claire Lynch, Random House UK, Vintage | Chatto & Windus, and NetGalley for the e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

This was heartbreaking. Beautifully written and poignant, with a nuanced narrative voice throughout. An important read that covers lesbian rights to motherhood in the 1980s and the repercussions of homophobic court decisions 40 years later.

A tense and nuanced reflection on family, fidelity, loss and betrayal. A young woman, with a husband and small child, falls suddenly in love with another woman, and her whole life is destroyed. Her daughter, now grown and with her own family, questions what happened and her relationship with her father, with whom she has a fierce bond, is tested almost to destruction. This book is honest and shows how people make terrible errors of judgement while trying their hardest to do the 'right' thing. I enjoyed it enormously.

The Blurb 📖
In 2022, Heron has just been given a terminal diagnosis. He doesn't know how to tell his daughter, Maggie. For so long, he has protected her from so many things but he can't protect her from this.

In 1982, Dawn is dealing with the responsibilities of being a young mother while discovering who she is and battling societal expectations.

A Family Matter tells a story of how the present is shaped by the past, even when you don't know about the past.

The Good 📖
This is a tale of two eras, the 1980's and the 2020's. This novel explores the changes in society in the forty years that have passed. I was horrified to see how a mother was treated just because of her sexuality but I was glad to see how society has changed, albeit there is still room for improvement.

All the characters in this book were well written and I wanted to know what happened, how they felt about the past and the present, the truth and the secrets. And I wanted to know whether everyone got their happy ever after, if that's possible when you uncover decades old secrets.

The Meh 📖
While I enjoyed this overall, I felt that there could have been more depth to some of the characters, more sharing of the emotions. Some of it felt a little surface level. If the story had delved into the emotions more, I think this could have been a real tear jerker.

I also felt there were some unanswered questions for me in the ending. It didn't completely ruin it, I just wanted to know a little more.

The Result 📖
This was an ARC from NetGalley and Chatto and Windus. I think it's an impressive debut novel and I'd be interested in reading more from the author.
Thanks to Chattus and Windus and Netgalley for the advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed this from start to finish. It was beautifully written and full of sadness - I had no idea that this was happening to women so recently. I do hope attitudes have changed now. A good book-group read.

Claire Lynch’s A Family Matter is a beautifully written and deeply moving debut novel that explores the devastating consequences of one woman’s affair, unravelling the intricate threads of love, secrets, and heartache. Set across two timelines, it presents a poignant narrative about the complexities of relationships and how past choices shape the present.

In 1982, Dawn is a young mother, adjusting to life with her husband and their daughter. However, everything changes when she meets Hazel, and a powerful connection sparks between them. This love, undeniable and consuming, complicates Dawn’s life in ways she never imagined. While her newfound joy brings her closer to Hazel, it also pulls her further from the responsibilities she cannot abandon—her marriage and her child.

Fast forward to 2022, and Heron, now an older man, faces a life-altering diagnosis. For years, his life has been a quiet routine, and now, with the weight of his secret growing, he struggles to tell his only child, Maggie, about the illness that threatens his future. But more than his diagnosis, there are the long-buried secrets—ones that have defined his relationship with Maggie, shaping their bond in ways she’s never understood.

A Family Matter is an exploration of love, loss, intimacy, and the injustices faced by those in same-sex relationships during a time when such partnerships were considered immoral. As Dawn’s affair and Heron’s hidden past come to light, the emotional fallout is inevitable. Lynch paints a heart-wrenching picture of the damage caused by societal judgment, but she also holds space for the hope that can emerge when buried truths are finally faced.

What makes this novel so compelling is Lynch’s masterful characterisation. Dawn, Heron, and Maggie are all deeply flawed yet utterly human, each carrying the weight of their actions and decisions in ways that are both heartbreaking and relatable. The prose is vivid and striking, making every moment of pain and revelation feel real and raw. The ending offers a glimmer of hope, a sense of resolution after so much turmoil, which is both satisfying and deeply emotional.

A Family Matter is a powerful meditation on love, regret, and the possibility of healing from the wounds of the past. It’s a book that will stay with you long after you’ve turned the final page, offering both heartache and the possibility of redemption. I loved it, and I highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys deeply emotional stories with unforgettable characters.

Read more at The Secret Book Review.

Thatcher’s Britain.
We follow a family, from 1982 until 2022. Not everything between. Or everything in-between is not openly spelled out, but hinted at.
Dawn is punished for her identity.
Years later, her daughter Maggie finds out the many secrets kept from her.
A quick but emotional read. I wish this were longer.
Plot 4.5
Characterisation 4.5
Writing 4
Topics and themes 5

The topic of this book was fascinating and something I knew very little about. I didn't always find the writing had the depth I wanted for the story being told but the subject matter made up for it

This book is heart breaking, it’s not a true story but it’s based on true life during the times. Based over a 40 year period starting in 1982. This was the year I was born, I never realised how bad in MY LIFETIME it really was for lesbian mums. My wife and I have a child and it’s just almost part of normal life. I remember section 28 in school, I remember my parents voting to not have homosexuality taught to their children. I had a friend whose mum turned out to be gay and left and her dad got custody. And we all called her mum names we didn’t understand as little 8 year olds. She went back to him eventually. Probably just so she could see her kids.

This book is so raw and full of emotion. It makes you so angry and hurt and also feel proud of how far we have come so far. Excellent writing.

I received this book as an ARC from the author for my honest review.

I really loved this book. It told a story which isn’t told enough in the history of lgbt life. The reunion had a realness about it that is unusual in literature and I liked that. Herons cancer storyline felt almost incidental. I am not sure what purpose it served except for the finding of the papers. But it was beautifully written. Thanks to NetGalley for the early copy.

This book deals with serious topics related to love and family. And it jumps across two timelines. But although that sounds complex, the author guides it all into place - the text flows easily and the structure works for the story.

The characters somehow felt both light and heavy at times, and I easily became interested in what would become of them. There were layers to their words and behaviours. For example, an exchange is shown to be an apology without using the word sorry. The characters’ frustrations and flaws made them feel more real.

Since the book is fiction but grounded in history, there is an added section at the end, with some of the references that underline the story. The dates here reminded me how recent this history is.

Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and author for an advance review copy.