Family History

From the author of the best-selling memoirSlow Motion(Chilling . . . her vision is unblinkingNew York Times Book Review; Riveting . . . a breathtaking combination of candor and bravadoSan Francisco Chronicle), a ferociously paced new novel about a woman losing control of her life, her marriage, and her kids, and discovering that you can do everything right and still find the world youve made slipping away. Rachel Jensen has it all: a husband she adores, challenging work in art restoration, a terrific teenage daughter, and a new baby on the way. Then her infant son is injured in an accident in her daughters arms, and that accident begets a terrifying lie. Set in a small Massachusetts town,Family Historyis about a family spiraling toward disintegration, the terrible force of guilt in children, and a mothers nightmarish realization that she cannot protect her own child. As the life the Jensens have so carefully built begins its slow collapse, we see with excruciating clarity the frailty of our strongest allegiances and the precarious ledge upon which our most vital relationsmarriage, parenthoodare balanced.Family Historyblazes through this intimate and highly charged territory with stunning velocity, and marks a bold new step forward for the prodigiously gifted Dani Shapiro.