Family of Strangers

Linnet Hudson Mctaggert leaves the only home she has ever known following the deaths of her mother and new husband, Duncan. Linnet hopes to build a life with Duncan's family but encounters stiff resistance. She is further troubled by a series of strange accidents, a troubling attraction to Duncan's twin and enigmatic feelings for the family's sworn enemy, Simon Fordyce. This book is shockingly different in tone than some of May's other novels. The haunting first-person narrative both draws the reader into an utmost intimacy and pushes one away gently. One of the most important messages May sends to us concerns the special circumstances of Duncan and Dougal's parentage. May makes sure that-although we know exactly what happened to the parents-we also understand that these events represent where the twins came from and are not determinative of WHO they become. I was so moved I had to set the book aside at certain points-and just think. It was worth it, though, for the boldness, daring- the truth.