The Accidental Favorite

Tensions flare during an English family’s vacation in the country in Littlewood’s emotive sophomore outing (after Amazing Grace Adams). The action begins with a falling tree, when Patrick Fisher rushes past his two older grown daughters, Alex and Nancy, to save their younger sister, Eva—who is least in danger. Alex, the eldest at 45, resents her husband, Luc, who doesn’t pitch in enough with their three children. She obsessively lurks on social media for updates on her first boyfriend, Matt, whom she hasn’t seen in decades, and struggles with not having lived up to her potential after being deemed the smart one by her parents. Nancy, 44, worries that her childhood reputation as the family screwup will reemerge if she tells them she’s been suspended from her doctor job following a clash with a patient. Eva, a child model turned savvy businesswoman at 40, is anxious about the family discovering her recent secret marriage to Scott, whom her parents and siblings think is a gold digger. Some of the action is a bit stagey, but the sisters’ bitterness, judgments, and rivalries feel all too genuine, and the story shifts effortlessly between the present and the sisters’ childhoods, culminating in the revelation of a secret that explains Patrick’s behavior. The author’s fans will find much to love. (June)