Keep it in the Family

by Laurent Saletto

Meet Emma Johnson. Emma has always loved Christmas and, with husband George, is planning a huge family reunion in a beautiful rented house complete with roaring fires, carols, and juicy turkeys. Trouble is, her family wishes are very different from hers.
Take George’s brother, Richard. Married to disenchanted Lorna, the couple is at odds on most things, and this includes Christmas.
As for George’s second brother, Jack, he is married to Jill. Unlike their innocent nursery-rhyme name connection, this is a couple with secrets, plans, and very little love between them.
Mix this with the family's disenchanted offspring, an ex wife, a lover of yesteryear, a mother with a touch of Alzheimer’s, and the scene is set for a Christmas reunion like no other.

457 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 18, 2013

About the author

I was born in France, grew up in Africa where my Dad worked for years and ended up living in England since 1978 where I met my partner who became my wife only a couple of years ago.

I always wanted to write a book but never felt that I would be able to get anything published that is until self publishing came along. So I ran out of excuses and had to prove to myself I could do it.

Keep It In The Family is my first book and I really enjoyed writing it. I hate rewrites but had to go through quite a few to get where it is today. I am sure the text is still not perfect but comes a time where you just have to stop rewriting and decide to let it go.

I would love to be able to devote much more time to writing as I've now got the bug so I hope Keep It In The Family will interest enough people for me to have another crack at it.

Reviews

[Ciclochick · Rating 4 out of 5]

A bomb fuse in a Christmas pudding: makes for a promising novel, doesn't it? Fortunately, the tale lives up to the promise.

There’s nothing like a dysfunctional family to make you realise how wonderfully normal your own is, despite your misgivings! And the Johnson family is as dysfunctional as it gets: three brothers with three very different wives, an ex-wife, an assortment of children and grandchildren, a stepmother and a stepsister. Doesn’t sound very dysfunctional, does it? But stepmother Mimi has Alzheimer’s, wife Jill is a first-class bitch, ex-wife Sandra is too tolerant for her own good, the children vary from uncaring to practically disowning. And then there’s the lovely Emma, wife of George, together a happy, generous couple who want to make Christmas a little bit different and enjoyable for everyone by renting a big old house to accommodate the whole of the clan.

It sounds good on paper. But the Johnson family under one roof is not a good idea. There are secrets, hidden agendas, and resentments. Can this have a good ending?

The characters in this were very well conceived, and I found myself being drawn in to each of their lives, whether it was a happy one, a disenchanted one, or a resigned one. My favourite had to be Mimi, whose condition enabled her to be able to say what she wanted, when she wanted, without fear of being reprimanded. She had some wonderful one-liners. The characters were so well portrayed, I almost hate to wonder if the author based them on real people! And you do care for them all, even the less likeable ones...or at least you are compelled to find out how they fare.

This is light-hearted and humorous, but it's also a very careful study of manners. I really enjoyed it.

[Bobbie Matthews · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read !
I loved the "not knowing what would happen next" aspect. Very disappointed when I had finished it.
Hope there is going to be a sequel.