Jacqueline Carey

Joan's mother has abandoned her family and attached herself to the rich and accomplished Eberlanders. Worse, she has taken up with a hilariously awful boyfriend named Aaron Lemon who shifts his attentions between mother and daughter.

Now even the Eberlanders – fragile, idealistic Iris and her demanding psychiatrist husband – seem to be unraveling. Joan visits the household every July 4th for four years and watches partners switch off. It is all a "delightful dance," as Iris puts it. At least in the beginning.

Publishers Weekly says THE OTHER FAMILY is "smartly told, funny, and deeply poignant."

Mary Gaitskill describes it as "a fine, astringent pleasure."

The Christian Science Monitor finds it "polished, satiric," and "compelling."

Newsday says it "takes our breath away."

Part of the deep delight of Jacqueline Carey's first novel, ''The Other Family,'' is the freshness with which she captures the flavor of the years between the Summer of Love and the Summer of Watergate.

- Karen Karbo in The New York Times