“A read-alike for both Jennifer Weiner and Jonathan Franzen for the way it so convincingly melds domestic drama, suburban angst, and beautifully descriptive writing.” —Booklist, starred review
Named a Best Book of 2015 by Chicago Book Review and a Best Chicagoland Novel by Gapers Block!

A rich, ambitious first novel of a Midwestern family buffeted by change, A Good Family is perfect for book-group discussions. Hard-charging Chicago sales executive Henry Brunson has long been the center around which his family revolves. But with his career in jeopardy and his youth behind him, Henry turns away from the Brunson home in Downers Grove, Illinois, for the shadowy nightclubs in Chicago’s Viagra Triangle. His wife, Julie, struggles to reclaim her life apart from the magnetic man she married. Charlie, the golden-boy first son, returns from service in Afghanistan angry, damaged, and uncertain of his place in the world. And Barkley, the bumbling younger son, interviews for his first teaching job at a forbidding Catholic high school.

When Henry’s health abruptly declines, he tries to return to the home and life he dominated, but Julie, Charlie, and Barkley no longer need him. In the end, each one will arrive at a new understanding of what family can—and cannot—be. Unusually assured and perceptive, combining narrative drive with humor, insight, and powerful family dynamics, A Good Family is a memorable debut by Erik Fassnacht.