Like Family: A Novel
Erin O. White
Nov 2025 · Penguin Random House Audio · Narrated by Rebecca Lowman
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11 hr 33 min
Unabridged
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About this audiobook
After a near-stranger dies in their small town, a tightknit group of friends can no longer ignore their long-dormant desires and unfulfilled dreams—“a moving story of betrayal, grief and forgiveness” (People).
“A loving sprawl of busy lives, the happy and sometimes messy web of friends and children and chosen family.”—The Boston Globe
It was too much to ask. But sometimes too much is what we ask of the people we love most.
Radclyffe, New York, is an idyllic upstate town, nestled in the hills and complete with artisanal bakeries, pottery studios, and hidden swimming holes. Ruth and her wife, Wyn, are living the dream (or Wyn’s dream, at least) with their four children on their small farm, which is also the bucolic gathering place for their circle of friends. It’s a sweet life, but there’s a secret at its center, one that not even Ruth’s best friend, Caroline, knows.
What Caroline does know is that she loves and depends on Ruth, and on the bond between their families. More than anything, she wants her tender-hearted son not to grow up lonely the way she did. Unfortunately, no one can assure her of that, especially not her husband. He just wants things to be easy, drama-free—which is impossible, as he has donated his sperm to his cousin Tobi and her wife so that they could have kids of their own. Now those children are asking unanswerable questions.
After an unexpected death in their community, all three couples are forced to confront the tensions that have long been buried beneath the surfaces of their lives. Richly textured and big-hearted, this exhilarating debut is an unforgettable story of the alchemy of love and loyalty that makes friends Like Family.
“A loving sprawl of busy lives, the happy and sometimes messy web of friends and children and chosen family.”—The Boston Globe
It was too much to ask. But sometimes too much is what we ask of the people we love most.
Radclyffe, New York, is an idyllic upstate town, nestled in the hills and complete with artisanal bakeries, pottery studios, and hidden swimming holes. Ruth and her wife, Wyn, are living the dream (or Wyn’s dream, at least) with their four children on their small farm, which is also the bucolic gathering place for their circle of friends. It’s a sweet life, but there’s a secret at its center, one that not even Ruth’s best friend, Caroline, knows.
What Caroline does know is that she loves and depends on Ruth, and on the bond between their families. More than anything, she wants her tender-hearted son not to grow up lonely the way she did. Unfortunately, no one can assure her of that, especially not her husband. He just wants things to be easy, drama-free—which is impossible, as he has donated his sperm to his cousin Tobi and her wife so that they could have kids of their own. Now those children are asking unanswerable questions.
After an unexpected death in their community, all three couples are forced to confront the tensions that have long been buried beneath the surfaces of their lives. Richly textured and big-hearted, this exhilarating debut is an unforgettable story of the alchemy of love and loyalty that makes friends Like Family.
After a near-stranger dies in their small town, a tightknit group of friends can no longer ignore their long-dormant desires and unfulfilled dreams—“a moving story of betrayal, grief and forgiveness” (People).
“A loving sprawl of busy lives, the happy and sometimes messy web of friends and child...
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About the author
A fifty-one-year-old debut novelist, Erin O. White is also an essayist and the author of the memoir Give Up For You. After growing up in Colorado and living for twenty years in western Massachusetts, she now lives with her wife and daughters in Minneapolis.
A fifty-one-year-old debut novelist, Erin O. White is also an essayist and the author of the memoir Give Up For You. After growing up in Colorado and living for twenty years in western Massachusetts, she now lives with her wife and daughters in Minneapolis.
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