A Family Matter

First published 2025 · debut

Cover of A Family Matter

Reception

Rave reviews. 3 of 4 critics gave a rave.

Rave 3 · Positive 0 · Mixed 1 · Pan 0

  • “In this small and powerful story, Lynch forces us to stare bigotry in the eye.”

    The Guardian (UK) · Joanna Cannon · Rave

2 more quotes
  • “By taking care to make Heron a likable character, and by reducing to a distant memory, uncovered in the present, the years of hiding birthday cards, avoiding questions and lying…”

    The Star Tribune · Marion Winik · Mixed

  • “Spare and direct and filled with beauty … Much of the strength of Lynch’s exquisite novel derives from what is unsaid—by her and by her characters”

    Shelf Awareness · Jennifer M. Brown · Rave

All 4 reviews on Book Marks

About the book

Read the full description

A young wife following her heart. A husband with the law on his side. Their daughter, caught in the middle. Forty years later, a family secret changes everything.

1982\. Dawn is a young mother, still adjusting to life with her husband, when Hazel lights up her world like a torch in the dark. Theirs is the kind of connection that’s impossible to resist, and suddenly life is more complicated, and more joyful, than Dawn ever expected. But she has responsibilities and commitments. She has a daughter.

2022\. Heron has just received news from his doctor that turns everything upside down. He’s an older man, stuck in the habits of a quiet existence. Telling Maggie, his only child—the person around whom his life has revolved—seems impossible. Heron can’t tell her about his diagnosis, just as he can’t reveal all the other secrets he’s been keeping from her for so many years.

Description from Open Library

About the author

Claire Lynch, born 1981, United Kingdom.

Catalogue record

Scribner, 2025 · 240 pages

Publisher
Scribner, 2025
Pages
240
LC · Dewey
PR6112.Y527 F36 · 823.92
ISBN
978-1-6680-7891-4 +3
Full recordClose
Publisher
Scribner, 2025
Pages
240
LC
PR6112.Y527 F36
Dewey
823.92
ISBNs
  • 978-1-6680-7891-4
  • 978-1-78474-584-4
  • 978-1-6680-7889-1
  • 978-1-78474-583-7
Editions
  • Scribner, 2025, hardcover, 240 pages 978-1-6680-7889-1
  • Scribner, 2025, 240 pages 978-1-6680-7891-4
  • Penguin Random House, 2025, 208 pages 978-1-78474-584-4
  • Penguin Random House, 2025, 208 pages 978-1-78474-583-7
Author
Lynch, Claire, 1981–
Statement
A Family Matter / Claire Lynch.
Records
Open Library Wikidata

Subjects

  • United Kingdom
  • 2020s
  • LGBTQ+ lives
  • Historical fiction
  • Family
  • Queer
  • Historical

Catalogue data checked 3 October 2026