A beautiful story of family dynamics and complications but always love at the surface.

This was a truly engrossing and deeply complicated book about a family of sisters with such individual personalities and yet so tangled together, it's as if they are one breathing organism. The girls' father Charlie Padavano is a dreamer, non-achiever, lover of poetry and the drink and who always greets his girls with a "Hello Beautiful" and their mother Rose believes she has been short changed from the man she thought she married adds to the negative family dynamic. When the oldest sister Julia meets William at college and brings him into the Padavano family, marries him and has a baby soon after, she doesn't realize the dysfunction that she is going to bring into the family. Because William doesn't share much about his own troubled past, a wide emotional gap grows between the newlyweds which Julia can't get her arms around since it doesn't follow the "plan" she has put together for their life and she doesn't know how to deal with that in a supportive way. This leads to some very deep consequences which drive the storyline from 1982 as the sisters go from girls to women as they find their voices and places in the world.
The author doesn't apologize for her mimicking the Little Women as the girls grow up each one adopting the personalities of Louisa May Alcott's classic March girls and when one states she is "Beth" it means she is struggling with something. Anyone who has read this famous book will understand the closeness of the Padavano sisters and how they all feel stronger when they are all together and when one isn't with them, they feel incomplete.
This book is beautifully written as Ann Napolitano does in all her stories. The characters are so well developed and defined and the reader truly understands them on a deeper level, even some of the minor characters. Many difficult and complicated themes are in this story and have a huge impact for the storylines. There are some very emotional moments in the story so have the tissue box available. A perfect book club choice because there is so much to discuss with this story! Read it!

I just could not get into this book. I tried three times and finally gave up.

Boring

Very captivating read about a family of complex relationships and working through those complexities.

Very moving

The Padavano family is a very close knit family. The four sisters are inseparable almost to the point where they don’t need anyone else in their lives. As young women their lives start to differ. Sylvie is looking for the man of her dreams. Julia is focused and has a definite plan for her life. The twins Emeline, who takes care of them all, and Cecelia a talented artist follow their own path as well. When Julia brings William into the fold they welcome him with open arms. Over the course of many years the family dynamics change.not always for the better.
The story started off slow, but once it picked up it was quite enjoyable.