What do you think a story about a thorny family would include? If it’s by Anne Tyler, and if it covers a period of sixty years, you can expect to see that things don’t always work out. For example, the central character, named Mercy, does not have a close relationship with her family; she’s an artist who is too busy for art until later in life, and time is not kind to her skills. The New York Times says this is a “quietly subversive novel, tackling fundamental assumptions about womanhood, motherhood and female aging.” And, I would add, about mercy.
Tyler, Anne. French Braid. Knopf, 2022, p. 237.