The Favorite Daughter

March 4, 2019
In Henry’s satisfying latest novel set in Watersend, S.C. (after The Bookshop at Water’s End), a woman returns to the town she fled from and is forced to relive her own recollections while trying to record her father’s. Minutes away from marrying who she thought was the perfect man, Colleen instead caught him kissing her sister, Hallie. Grabbing the suitcase packed for her honeymoon, she ran, creating a new life in New York and limiting contact with her family; her ex eventually married Hallie. Ten years later, when her brother, Shane, tells her their father is losing ground to dementia, she reluctantly goes home. Hallie is angry that Colleen abandoned their family, never letting Hallie tell her side. While creating a memory book to help her dad battle his Alzheimer’s, Colleen learns that memories and history are often impossible to run from or bury. Readers will be immersed in this moving tale, hungry to learn whether love and family will overcome betrayal, secrets, and heartache. Agent: Marly Rusoff, Marly Rusoff Literary.

April 15, 2019
Ten years ago, just before her wedding, Colleen Donohue found her younger sister making out with the groom, so she left her South Carolina hometown and made a career for herself as a New York-based travel writer. When news of her father's early-onset Alzheimer's reaches her, Colleen returns home to face her family. Colleen's brother Shane has taken over the family's Irish pub, which is in financial trouble, and her sister Hallie is angry that Colleen never heard her side of the story about the wedding incident. The siblings are forced to work together, and as they do, a long-buried secret about the Donohue family comes to light. Henry's latest (after Becoming Mrs. Lewis, 2018) packs an emotional wallop, delving into the bonds and tragedies that make a family. Colleen's inability to trust is a key component of the plot, and as she opens up to the people around her, her life?and her understanding of what home means?is transformed. Readers of thoughtful family dramas will be drawn to the travails of the Donohue clan.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)