A Field Guide to Burying Your Parents

October 26, 2009
Palmer (Conversations with the Fat Girl
) delivers a breezy feel-good story of family bonding. After hearing about her father's stroke, smart-ass heroine Grace Hawkes prepares for the wrath of the siblings she's ignored for the five years since their mother's death. Things are a little tricky, since their dad, Ray, left the family 20 years before and was a prolific philanderer, now remarried to the unsavory Connie. Snappy sibling bickering (sometimes too much of it) takes a bit of the melodramatic edge off as oldest sibling Huston takes charge and is surprisingly given power of attorney. Connie and her adult son, Dennis, aren't happy about this, which raises suspicion among the Hawkes siblings, especially after they visit their father's house and find no trace of Connie having lived there; instead, it's a shrine to Ray's first wife and the kids. As Ray's health declines in the hospital, tensions heat up and a legal showdown looms. There aren't any surprises in the sunny resolution, but Palmer takes enough unexpected detours on the way there to keep readers engaged.

December 15, 2009
After their mothers unexpected death, Grace fled her fianc' and siblings for a life largely lacking emotional connections. Now, five years later, their estranged father is gravely ill, and she and her siblings, Abigail, Huston, and Leo, have been called to his side. Grace must confront her own abandonment of her family even as she comes to terms with her fathers. The siblings discover their father repeatedly tried to restore his relationship with his family and that his seemingly devoted second wife is hiding the true nature of their marriage. As they arrange for their fathers care, Grace rekindles her bond with her siblings and makes amends with her former love. Palmer, author of Conversations with the Fat Girl (2005), writes with honesty, humor, and grace about family and romantic relationships. This realistic, emotional novel will resonate with readers.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)