FICTION

The Smart One

Knopf. Apr. 2013. 352p. ISBN 9780307596864. $24.95; ebk. ISBN 9780307962324. F
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Claire is nearing 30 and at a low point in her life. Her fiancé has just left her, and she has maxed out her credit cards to afford the apartment they rented together in New York City. Claire's only option is to move back home with her parents in Philadelphia, but she's not the first of her siblings to return to the family nest. Her socially challenged older sister, Martha, already lives there, and her younger brother, Max, is quick on their heels as unforeseen circumstances will soon find him living in the basement with his bride-to-be, Cleo. With a house full of adult children, parents Weezy and Will are left to wonder where they went wrong and when they might have an empty nest again.
VERDICT Close's sophomore effort (after her acclaimed and best-selling Girls in White Dresses) is a well-written family drama in which all the characters keep moving forward, but not all loose ends are completely and neatly tied. This is sure to please fans of women's fiction dealing with family like the works of Jodi Picoult and Kristen Hannah. [See Prepub Alert, 10/8/12.]
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