Like Family

White’s nuanced debut novel (after the memoir Give Up for You) concerns the complex relationships of three couples in Upstate New York. Ruth and Wyn Schwartz-Huntley are raising 16-year-old Sidda, Ruth’s daughter from a previous relationship. When Sidda learns that her biological father, Elliot Jenkins, recently died, she lashes out at her mothers, upset that she missed the chance to get to know him. Ruth then enters into an emotional affair with realtor Florence Howe, whom she befriended during her time with Elliot and lost touch with until now. Meanwhile, Ruth is surprised not to have support from her best friend Caroline Caruso, who shames her for keeping a secret from Wyn. Caroline, in turn, is jealous of the close relationship her husband, Mike Byrnes, has with Tobi Fynch, whose wife, Evie Gold, got pregnant from Mike’s sperm donation. Tobi, meanwhile, is newly uncomfortable in her body after she meets Wyn’s new friend, Bex Devereux, who is nonbinary and the happy recipient of top surgery, something Tobi wants but isn’t comfortable talking about with Evie. White handily explores how disloyalty and regret cloud the characters’ otherwise cozy and hard-won family lives. Readers will find much to enjoy. Agent: Claudia Ballard, WME. (Nov.)