A Friend of the Family: A Novel [Hardcover]

"What a wonderful and compelling read. This book is full of insights and honesty, and you will have a hard time putting it down. These people will stay in your head and keep their hands on your heart. Grodstein's skills at storytelling are unwavering." Elizabeth Strout, Pulitzer Prize winner for Olive Kitteridge (Elizabeth Strout )

"A gripping account of paternal love gone wildly astray." Helen Schulman, author of A Day at the Beach (Helen Schulman )

"The moving, complex, beautifully written story of a good man who's slowly losing his grip on his life and his family, A Friend of the Family unfolds with unerring precision." Kate Christensen, author of Trouble (Kate Christensen )

Pete Dizinoff has spent years working toward a life that would be, by all measures, deemed successful. A skilled internist, he s built a thriving practice in suburban New Jersey. He has a devoted wife, a network of close friends, and an impressive house, and most important, he has a son, Alec, on whom he s pinned all his hopes. Pete has afforded Alec every opportunity, bailed him out of close calls with the law, and even ensured his acceptance into a good college. But Pete never counted on the wild card: Laura, his best friend's daughter ten years older than Alec, irresistibly beautiful, with a past so shocking that it s never spoken of. When Laura sets her sights on Alec, Pete sees his plans for his son not just unraveling but being destroyed completely. Believing he has only the best of intentions, he sets out to derail this romance and rescue his son. He could never have foreseen how his whole world would shatter in the process. Lauren Grodstein delivers a riveting story in the tradition of The Ice Storm, American Beauty, and Little Children, charting a father's fall from grace as he struggles to save his family, his reputation, and himself.

LAUREN GRODSTEIN is the author of the collection The Best of Animals and a novel, Reproduction is the Flaw of Love, which was both a Breakout Book selection from Amazon.com and a Borders Original Voices pick. Her work has been translated into German, Italian, and French. She teaches creative writing at Rutgers University.