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Tyler, Anne. French Braid. Knopf. Mar. 2022. 256p. ISBN 9780593321096. $27. lrg. prnt. CD/downloadable. LITERARY

Author of the Pulitzer Prize–winning Breathing Lessons and the recent Man Booker Prize finalist Redhead by the Side of the Road, Tyler has always had a way with families. Her protagonists here are the Garretts, who don’t necessarily seem that close. Mercy is more invested in creating artwork than tending to husband Robin or their three children—dependable Alice, wild-eyed Lily, and the youngest, David, who appears more than a little eager to forge his own way far from the homestead. In fact, the Garretts have only taken one vacation together, way back in 1959. Yet they clearly influence one another powerfully over the decades depicted here.

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