Relative Strangers: A British Family Story

** A novel by CIBA finalist and Readers' Favorite Silver Medalist Allie Cresswell. **"She is quite a writer, a unique voice; it is strange that someone who writes so beautifully is toiling alone in the Indie world, but there it is."" A novel of family dynamics, secrets and strained loyalties. You'll ask yoursef, What DOES it mean to be 'family'?""The writing is full of wit - not laugh-out-loud, but clever and amusing.""My house was a tip: I did no housework because all I wanted to do was read.""Best family story I've read in a while"The McKay family gathers for a week-long holiday at a rambling old house to celebrate the fiftieth wedding anniversary of Robert and Mary. In recent years only funerals and sudden, severe illnesses have been able to draw them together and as they gather in the splendid rooms of Hunting Manor, their differences are soon uncomfortably apparent. For all their history, their traditions, the connective strands of DNA, they are relative strangers. There are truths unspoken, but the question is: how much truth can a family really stand? The family holiday mushrooms, drawing in sundry relatives both estranged and deranged. The machinations of an appalling, uninvited aunt threaten the holiday – and the family – with irreparable damage. This book will make you question your own family situation. What does it really mean to be 'family'?If you enjoy this, you'll love Salad Days, Allie Cresswell's literary family story with a gothic twist.