FIRST COMES LOVE

A family struggles to define their new normal 15 years after a tragic loss.

Sisters Josie and Meredith couldn’t be more different. While Josie is an occasionally capricious, still-single elementary school teacher longing for a child of her own, Meredith is a diligent and obsessive lawyer, mother, and wife. Though Meredith desperately tries to create a “perfect Facebook façade,” there are definite cracks at the edges. She is uninterested in trying for a second child, feels listless in her career, and questions the foundation of her marriage. Josie, meanwhile, is attempting to cope with the heavy emotional burden of having her ex-boyfriend’s—the one she still isn’t completely over—young daughter assigned to her class. At nearly 38, with no romantic prospects in sight, Josie decides that she will have to take charge of her desire to be a mother, setting off Meredith, who considers this to be just another one of Josie’s whims. At the core of this troubled family are the grief that lingers over their brother Daniel’s untimely death, the questions that swirl regarding what exactly happened on that fateful night, and the rapidly approaching milestone anniversary. Bestseller Giffin (The One & Only, 2014, etc.) juggles Josie’s quest for motherhood and Meredith’s internal conflicts deftly, with the third force always being their lost brother and the feelings of what their family could have been had things worked out differently. While Josie and Meredith sometimes seem just a touch too self-aware considering their foibles, Giffin paints a realistic portrait of the troubled and complex relationship between a pair of sisters. Beyond the sisters, the novel is rich with well-drawn characters, from Gabe, Josie’s best friend and platonic roommate, to Sophie, Daniel’s girlfriend at the time of his death.

Giffin's fans will be pleased with this fast-paced, witty, and thoughtful new offering.