Next of Kin: A Memoir

James Beard Award winner Hamilton (Blood, Bones & Butter) serves up a nuanced and nourishing look at her idiosyncratic family. Though Hamilton’s parents, sister, and three brothers were often at odds with one another, they shared the values of creativity and individuality, as well as a dislike of anything “precious.” The family’s sense of coherence eroded, however, when Hamilton’s older brother Jeffrey hanged himself at age 57. The tragedy spurred Hamilton to rethink her family’s dynamics and revisit a childhood marked by adventure, but also chaos and neglect. Hamilton’s father, a set builder turned restaurateur, was competitive with his children, choosing his own tap-dancing recital over Jeffrey’s college graduation; her mother became a glamorous recluse in her later years, “like a docent in a museum of herself.” Her family’s inflated self-image, Hamilton comes to understand, warped her perception of such episodes from her life as stealing the family car at 13, having an affair with her sister’s husband as an adult, and clinging to a bad marriage by describing it to herself as “unconventional.” Hamilton is hardly the first writer to find deep sorrow beneath her family’s glittering facade, but the vivid detail of her scenes and her rigorous pursuit of the truth feel revelatory. Layered, moving, and funny, this is a must-read. Agent: Kim Witherspoon, InkWell Management. (Oct.)