Winner of New Adult Fiction-- Beverly Hills Book Awards for 2016

Winner of the 2016 SILVER Medal for Best Fiction in Drama from Readers Favorites

Finalist USA Best Books Awards 2016 in Literary Fiction and in New Fiction

A story of the complexity of the bonds between parents and children and how difficult it can be to escape them, Things Unsaid is a highly charged family saga of characters fighting for space to breathe.

Jules, her sister Joanne, and her brother Andrew all grew up in the same household?but their varying views of and reactions to their experiences growing up have made them all very different people. Now, as adults with children of their own, they are all faced with the question of what to do to help their parents, who insist on maintaining the upscale lifestyle they’re accustomed to despite their mounting debts. A deft exploration of the ever-shifting covenants between parents and children, Things Unsaid is a ferocious tale of family love, dysfunction, and sense of duty over forty years.

Chapter 1: Family Matters

Her father’s smile disappeared. “Andrew and Joanne have to pitch in too. But I have a plan—to buy penny stocks with our Social Security. My broker warns me to avoid penny stocks, but I know better. Besides, Jules and Mike will have college tuition for Zoë soon.”

“Andrew has too many financial obligations of his own with three—or is it four?—kids,” her mother said, frowning. “So does Joanne, with her two daughters. Jules has only one child to think about.”

“Hmmm. Uh, check the answering machine, Aida. I think Joanne called and left a message,” her father suggested, ignoring her mother’s comment.

“Guess she can’t get enough of me. Thinking of my birthday.” Her mother looked pleased.

“Yeah, yeah,” her dad said. “Birthdays just remind us that our lives are shorter than the year before. I think I’ll take a short nap. Sleep is practicing for death. Wake me up, if you can, in half an hour.”

Jules watched as her bent-over father, so curved in that he looked like a giant prawn, dragged himself off to the master bedroom with his file folders. A malodorous trace followed behind him, musty and dusty like their dogwood curtains. Jules sighed. She had hoped that on this trip, for once, they could have a good time. view abbreviated excerpt only...

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