A Field Guide to Burying Your Parents - Liza Palmer

I first discovered Liza Palmer when I read her debut novel Conversations with the Fat Girl. Chick lit with charm that I really enjoyed. So I was looking forward to reading A Field Guide to Burying Your Parents - and I wasn't disappointed.

Grace's father took off when she was young and her mother raised her and her three siblings single handed. And did a great job. But when Grace was thirty her beloved mother was killed unexpectedly. Grace can't handle it and takes off, literally leaving everything behind. A devoted boyfriend, her two brothers and sister. For five years she has no contact with them. Until her sister calls and says that their father - the one who left them - is dying and needs to see them.

What follows is an absolutely charming tale of the tenacity of family bonds. How far they'll stretch and how much strength they really have. Palmer explores the complicated relationships between parent and child and between siblings with both humour and pathos. You may find yourself thinking about your own family relationships. There's a delicious sub plot in the form of the evil step family that I won't giveaway.

A fast read that I really couldn't put down and thoroughly enjoyed (but you might want to have a tissue handy......) Read an excerpt.