Object Lessons by Anna Quindlen

This is Quindlen's first novel and the drama and fine observation of the American family is already well established. As her powerful grandfather's favorite, twelve year old Maggie struggles to understand why her father is treated like the family black sheep and her beautiful mother as a troublesome outsider. She watches as the profoundly Catholic family patriarch manipulates his sons and their families until it all begins to unravel. But as Quindlen observes, things are never as bad or as good as they seem - and the the degree to which we can manage the spaces between the secret and the profound often depends on our ability to understand life's object lessons.