Title: Did You Ever Have a Family?

Author: Bill Clegg

Publisher:  Gallery/Scout, September 2015

Summary/Review: Bill Clegg’s devastatingly beautiful fiction debut is portrait of a community in the aftermath of an unspeakable tragedy.  June Reid, the broken woman at the epicenter of the novel, is struggling with a loss so profound she is unable to see beyond her grief, unaware that it has touched many people, uniting them in a web of sorrow, guilt, anger, love, and healing.

Clegg tells their stories with heartbreaking sensitivity and insight; it is an important and timely work as so many communities find themselves facing real-life tragedies today.  I absolutely loved this book.

Who will like this book?: Someone looking for a somber and heartbreaking book which is focused more on the after-effects of a tragedy than the mystery surrounding it.

If you liked this, try this: Bill Clegg has written memoirs before, but this is his debut novel.  If you like his writing style (and want to know more about him) then they might be worth a try.

Recommended By: Mary C, Reference Librarian

If this looks like a book you’d like to try, visit the Fairfield Public Library catalog to see if it’s available and/or to place a hold!