A kaleidoscopic depiction of this vacation week, pinging between moments from each day and the sisters’ pivotal childhood memories as tensions and irritations mount ... The Accidental Favorite doesn’t contain chapters, only names and times (Alex, autumn 1975; Eva, Sunday noon) as guides. This back-and-forth between time periods can sometimes be disorienting, but the novel excels in revealing the complicated tangle of sisterly love and resentment; the way siblings can remember the same event quite clearly, but also distinctly from one another; and how children internalize events that they don’t understand ... The Accidental Favorite covers some of the same territory as Tessa Hadley (particularly The Past), with similar attention to the characters’ surroundings—the stylish but uncomfortable vacation house, the cluttered old family home—though with more wryly comic moments. Fran Littlewood puts the sisters and their parents through their paces: fractured family dynamics, emotional breakdowns, a few explosive fights and a near natural disaster. Through it all, the sisterly and parental bonds endure.
A compelling drama about a dysfunctional family that will make readers laugh out loud and cringe all at once. While the side plots meander slightly, Littlewood’s sharp characters and emotional depth beautifully capture the messy and complicated side of adults’ relationships to their families of origin, quirks and all.
Littlewood again has her finger on the pulse of the woman on the edge, balancing an impressive cast of characters and flashbacks to the girls’ upbringing, slowly revealing the sources of the familial tension. As the house fills with a mysterious odor (it’s a metaphor), readers will gladly go along on this wild ride.
Even under pressure, sisterhood is powerful in this entertaining and well-crafted novel ... The narrative line is complex, moving back and forth in time and among the sisters and their mother, but Littlewood handles it skillfully. Her characters, flawed as they are, are engaging and relatable, and her sense of family dynamics captures all the old wounds, shifting hierarchies, inside jokes, and sturdy if skewed love the sisters share.
Some of the action is a bit stagey, but the sisters’ bitterness, judgments, and rivalries feel all too genuine, and the story shifts effortlessly between the present and the sisters’ childhoods, culminating in the revelation of a secret that explains Patrick’s behavior. The author’s fans will find much to love.
