Introduction

The #1 New York Times bestselling author, whose books so many love, brings us a fresh, contemporary story of a woman and her unruly blended family

“Nobody writes women the way Jojo Moyes does.” —Jodi Picoult

Lila Kennedy has a lot on her plate. A broken marriage, two wayward daughters, a house that is falling apart, and an elderly stepfather who seems to have quietly moved in. Her career is in freefall and her love life is . . . complicated. So when her real dad—a man she has barely seen since he ran off to Hollywood thirty-five years ago—suddenly appears on her doorstep, it feels like the final straw. But it turns out even the family you thought you could never forgive might have something to teach you: about love, and what it actually means to be family.

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Discussion Questions

From the publisher--added by Pauline

1. Lila is humiliated when her marriage to Dan dissolves weeks after the publication of her bestseller, The Rebuild. Yet over the coming months, she does find a new courage to make changes in her life that she never thought she could. Have you ever had to face a significant challenge in your life that required that kind of leap?

2. Gene enters Lila’s world uninvited, wreaking havoc on her vulnerable family. But with time, Lila and her daughters come to rely on his presence. How does his outsider’s perspective help the family through their upheavals?

3. There are many depictions of female friendship throughout the novel; indeed, in some ways, they are at its heart. Celie undergoes a painful break from her friend group but finds new, different friends with whom she can truly be herself; Lila finds steadfast loyalty and love from Eleanor and unlikely camaraderie in Jessie. Do you find yourself relating to any of these dynamics?

4. Much of the book is about a woman in midlife—the many competing obligations, desires, resentments, and losses. It is also about the ways in which she finds she wants to change her life. Are those themes ones you have experienced as well?

5. Lila’s blended family ebbs and flows considerably over the course of the novel, contracting and expanding around Bill, Gene, Jensen, Penelope, and Dan. How do the unconventional parameters of Lila’s family complicate her life? Where do they help ease her burdens, or her children’s?

6. Lila realizes that writing candidly about her life means exposing the lives of people she cares about. Do you think she makes the right decision in canceling her book deal?

7. How do you understand Lila’s falling under Gabriel’s seemingly transparent spell while neglecting Jensen’s genuine worth and appeal for a long time? What does Gabriel seem to offer in contrast to Jensen’s steadfast friendship and, eventually, love?

8. Bill and Lila both find love when they’re not looking for it. How do their burgeoning relationships differ from their earlier marriages? How does Bill reconcile falling for Penelope as he’s grieving Francesca? And what do you think it is about Penelope that finds the way to his heart?

9. Do you think it was right for Gene to lie to Bill about his past with Francesca? Why or why not?

10. Lila realizes that “[Jensen] and Bill had been right; when she sits on the bench that Bill made she does think about her mother. But it is a good feeling, more of a warm remembrance than a gaping maw of absence.” Do you have any special places that make you feel connected to the people you care about?

11. At the novel’s end, Lila and her daughters set off to Dan’s house to celebrate his baby’s arrival and care for Marja. Do you feel Dan deserves this display of kindness? How does the theme of redemption play out between Dan and Lila? Bill and Gene?

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