A Very Inconvenient Scandal

Mitchard (The Good Son) offers an arresting exploration of a family’s messy relationships. When 27-year-old underwater photographer Frankie Attleboro returns from an expedition in Canada to her family home on Cape Cod, she’s almost five months pregnant and engaged. That news is nothing, though, compared to the surprises in store from Ariel, her best friend from childhood. Ariel has worked for Frankie’s parents for years at the Saltwater Foundation, a nonprofit focused on the conservation of marine animals, but following the death of Frankie’s mom, Beatrice, a year earlier, Ariel is now nine months pregnant and engaged to Frankie’s charismatic but self-centered father, Mack, who styles himself after Jacques Cousteau. As Mack makes plans for the future, he infuriates Frankie and her brother by announcing that he’ll be leaving to Ariel the family foundation and his estate, including a house from Beatrice’s side of the family. Things get even more complicated with the arrival of Ariel’s deadbeat mom and the revelation of Ariel’s father’s identity. The characters and relationships are all smartly drawn, and the narrative is shot through with plenty of humor and scandal. Mitchard fans will lap this up. Agent: Jeff Kleinman, Folio Literary Management. (Nov.)