The Other Family: A Novel

Written by Loretta Nyhan

Narrated by Mary Robinette Kowal

From the bestselling author of Digging In comes a witty and moving novel about motherhood, courage, and finding true family.

With a dissolving marriage, strained finances, and her life in flux, Ally Anderson longs for normal. Her greatest concerns, though, are the health problems of her young daughter, Kylie. Symptoms point to a compromised immune system, but every doctor they’ve seen has a different theory. Then comes hope for some clarity.

It’s possible that Kylie’s illness is genetic, but Ally is adopted. A DNA test opens up an entirely new path. And where it leads is a surprise: to an aunt Ally never knew existed. She’s a little wild, very welcoming, and ready to share more of the family history than Ally ever imagined.

Coping with a skeptical soon-to-be-ex husband, weathering the cautions of her own resistant mother, and getting maddeningly close to the healing Kylie needs, Ally is determined to regain control of her life. This is her chance to embrace uncertainty and the beauty of family—both the one she was born into and the one she chose.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Brilliance Audio
• Release date: Apr 1, 2020
• ISBN: 9781799750369

Loretta Nyhan

Loretta Nyhan has worked as a journalist and copywriter, and currently teaches college writing and humanities. She lives in the Chicago area with her husband and family.

Reviews for The Other Family

[terran_9 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

There is a lot of ground covered in this short, fast read. Even though Matt and Ally are separating, they are forced to work together to find medical help for their daughter who is suffering from a disease that may be hereditary. Because Ally is adopted she goes to a DNA site to get more information about her birth family (without telling her adoptive mother). You can imagine the problems this causes, especially when Ally finds an aunt and an extended family with whom she bonds. I liked the relationships that developed among all the characters. They had their problems but genuinely tried to communicate with each other and understand the others' point of view. Quite a welcome change from so many novels where the characters spend half the book resenting others and refusing to communicate.

[scottjpearson · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This story of adoption operates on the premise that adopted children have an adopted family and a birth family (the other family). The protagonist is adopted shortly after birth into a family which raised her. As an adult, she has a daughter who, in an all-too-common tale, comes down with severe peanut allergies. The lack of progress of treatment lead the duo to an allergist who practices “holistic” approaches to treatment, such as meditation and acupuncture. These approaches are adjuncts to traditional exposure therapy and not replacement – so no need to worry about medical orthodoxy.To aid her daughter, the main character then submits her DNA to be sequenced. She finds an aunt who also lives in Chicago, the setting of this tale. This aunt welcomes her in as family and thus provides this book’s namesake. This book oozes with the theme of the importance of a healthy family as relationships with the protagonist’s mother, estranged husband, and birth family are renegotiated. (The aunt is even in the process of fostering and adopting her own child!)Nyhan, the author, is clearly skilled enough to keep the plot moving; she is likewise skilled enough to provide us with compelling characters in a modern setting. Contemporary understandings of love, marriage, and even homosexuality are addressed by the author. She has the chance to also address race more in depth but sadly seems to take a pass at that. I’m also disappointed that the interplay of gender and family is not explored in more detail. Almost all of the major characters are female. I sense that the nature of the male role in a family is being redefined in American culture today, and some exploration of that would have shown some intellectual precariousness on behalf of the author. Although dealing with these topics would have required more pages and more plot development, such motifs would have moved this book from a status of good to great.Overall, Nyhan provides us with a fun tale to read and with a few plot twists to keep the pages turning. She even portrays social media as she develops online posts as part and parcel of the action. I’d just like to see more dynamics at work here to move the author’s next book to the next level. She clearly has a talent for keeping the plot moving and for keeping characters developing. I’d just like to extend her skill into other recesses of American consciousness.