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A Nearly Normal Family: A Novel - Paperback | Diverse Reads

A Nearly Normal Family: A Novel

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"...A compulsively readable tour de force." —The Wall Street Journal

New York Times Book Review recommends M.T. Edvardsson’s A Nearly Normal Family and lauds it as a “page-turner” that forces the reader to confront “the compromises we make with ourselves to be the people we believe our beloveds expect.” (NYTimes Book Review Summer Reading Issue)

When the teenage daughter of responsible, upstanding parents is accused of murder, a family realizes that it isn’t love that will keep them together: it’s lies.

Eighteen-year-old Stella Sandell stands accused of the brutal murder of a man almost fifteen years her senior. She is an ordinary teenager from a respectable local family. What reason could she have to know a shady businessman, let alone to kill him?

Told in an unusual three-part structure, this gripping, domestic drama pushes a family to its limits. The father, a pastor, believes his daughter can only be innocent, despite mounting evidence. The mother, a defense attorney, believes no one is telling the truth. And the daughter, desperate for her dreams of the future, believes no one understands how far she is willing to go.

In this complex, multi-layered novel, every character’s loyalty and morality is tested. Are we duty-bound to defend our family, even with the evidence against them? Is anyone who they seem on the surface? And what are we willing to compromise to keep our lives, as we know them, intact?

ISBN-13: 9781250204592

Media Type: Paperback

Publisher: Celadon Books

Publication Date: 06-30-2020

Pages: 400

Product Dimensions: 5.30(w) x 8.10(h) x 1.20(d)

M. T. Edvardsson is an author and teacher from Trelleborg, Sweden. He is the author of multiple novels. A Nearly Normal Family is his first published in the United States. He lives with his family in Löddeköpinge, Sweden.

Reading Group Guide

Whose point of view did you enjoy reading the most, and why?

Do you think a parent would read this book differently than someone who doesn’t have a child?

What do you consider a normal family?

Do you think Ulrika had her daughter’s best interests at heart?

What was Adam’s greatest motivation: protecting his daughter, his family or his reputation?

How did you feel about Shirine and the books that she gives to Stella to read: The Bell Jar, The Catcher in the Rye, Crime and Punishment, and Thérèse Raquin.

Author M.T. Edvardsson is also a teacher. How do you think this affected his portrayal of Stella and Amina?

How did Ulrika’s relationship with Amina affect her relationship with Stella?

Discuss Stella and Amina’s friendship.

Have you had any friendships in your life that caused you to do something you regretted?

How did Stella’s time at church camp affect her relationship with her parents?

How far would you go for your child?