The Care and Feeding of Ravenously Hungry Girls by Anissa Gray

'Nothing's normal.' Joe, charming and cruel, was once a source of abject terror for Lillian but he's now a pastor and has offered to take in the twins (much to Lillian's horror). 'It's.everything's all right, right? Everything's normal.' She's begging for help but when it is offered, she realizes that she cannot accept. Lillian, flustered and terrified, has taken in Althea's twin teenage daughters (Baby Vi and Kim). But I recall that deadly serious look in Kim's eyes.something dark, something distant, something desperate. She's coming into town to help Lillian with Baby Vi and Kim while running from other things. We want to see justice done.' Viola, intelligent and damaged, made it through college and now works as a psychologist with her partner, Eva, but their most recent rough patch may be the end for them. 'But it was Althea and Proctor Cochran, people we trusted, who laid waste to the faith and loyalty of this whole town, holding their fund-raisers, taking our money, promising to help, but never delivering. She finds herself in the center of a scandal and her world is rocked to the core. They've each managed to escape but not without scars.Īlthea, powerful and dominating, pulled her younger siblings up and out from squalor and raised them herself. She's always been different with me.The Butler family - Althea, Viola, Lillian and Joe - had a rough childhood. What unfolds is a stunning portrait of the heart and core of an American family in a story that is as page-turning as it is important.

The worst part is, not even her sisters are sure exactly what happened.Īs Althea awaits her fate, Lillian and Viola must come together in the house they grew up in to care for their sister’s teenage daughters.

They are as stunned as the rest of the small community when she and her husband Proctor are arrested, and in a heartbeat the family goes from one of the most respected in town to utter disgrace. The Butler family has had their share of trials-as sisters Althea, Viola, and Lillian can attest-but nothing prepared them for the literal trial that will upend their lives.Īlthea, the eldest sister and substitute matriarch, is a force to be reckoned with and her younger sisters have alternately appreciated and chafed at her strong will. The Mothers meets An American Marriage in this dazzling debut novel about mothers and daughters, identity and family, and how the relationships that sustain you can also be the ones that consume you.

The Care and Feeding of Ravenously Hungry Girls by Anissa Gray