The Arrivals

Drawing on the same rich vein of modern family life mined in PACKED TO THE RAFTERS, the idyllic life of two empty nesters is shattered when all three of their adult children suddenly return home to stay – indefinitely. A tender and tangled tale of family that will make you laugh and cry – and want to phone home … ' takes on the age-old topic of parents and children and their children with a fresh perspective, a canny understanding of human emotion, and the absolute best dialogue I have ever read.' ELIN HILDERBRAND, author of tHE ISLAND. the idyllic life of empty nesters Ginny and William Owens is shattered when all three of their adult children suddenly return home to stay – indefinitely. First, eldest daughter Lillian arrives with her two young children in tow, her once happy marriage in tatters. Next comes younger brother Stephen and his fiercely ambitious, BlackBerry-addicted and very pregnant wife Jane, who is forced to extend a grudging weekend visit into a month's bed rest after an emergency dash to the local hospital. When their youngest, Rachel, appears, fleeing her difficult life in New York, Ginny and William find their once peaceful home transformed into the chaos of their child rearing days. Only this time around, their children are facing adult problems.At summer's end, when a mother is faced with her worst fear, each one has learned their own lesson in love and loyalty, and what really matters.And the old adage, once a parent, always a parent, has never rung so true.