Untethered

by Julie Lawson Timmer Narrated by Emily Sutton-Smith

Overview

When Char Hawthorne's husband dies unexpectedly, she is left questioning everything she once knew to be true: from the cozy small town life they built together to her relationship with her stepdaughter, who is suddenly not bound to Char in any real way. Untethered explores what bonds truly form a family and how, sometimes, love knows no bounds.

Char Hawthorn, college professor, wife and stepmother to a spirited fifteen-year-old daughter, loves her family and the joyful rhythms of work and parenting. But when her husband dies in a car accident, the “step” in Char's title suddenly matters a great deal. In the eyes of the law, all rights to daughter Allie belong to Lindy, Allie's self-absorbed biological mother, who wants to girl to move to her home in California.

While Allie begins to struggle in school and tensions mount between her and Char, Allie's connection to young Morgan, a ten-year-old-girl she tutors, seems to keep her grounded. But then Morgan, who was adopted out of foster care, suddenly disappears, and Char is left to wonder about a possible future without Allie and what to do about Morgan, a child caught up in a terrible crack in the system.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

Praise for Untethered

“A complex story about a nontraditional but often familiar family. … Timmer handles the sensitive, emotionally charged nature of her plot with reverence and openness, avoiding harsh judgments. Untethered is a beautiful mosaic of love's many fragments, no matter how shattered.”—Shelf Awareness
 
“Examines human relationships and the concept of family in a very modern, relatable setting.”—REDBOOK
 
“Gripping and thoughtful new novel” – Emily Giffin, New York Times bestselling author of The One and Only
 
“Captivating characters and a plot that will keep the pages turning through to the climactic end.”—RT Book Reviews
 
“A thoughtfully written and ultimately uplifting celebration of families that are not bound by blood or by law but by love.”—Kirkus Reviews

“Harper Lee famously wrote that you can choose your friends, but you can’t choose your family. In Untethered, Julie Lawson Timmer makes mincemeat of this old chestnut, proving that a modern family can indeed consist of people who find their own way to each other, however circuitously. The pulse of the story is in the journey, and the triumph is in the unexpectedness of the destination. If you’re inclined to gently strong-arm your book club, Timmer’s is a poignant page-turner worth going to the mat for.”—Elisabeth Egan, author of A Window Opens

Kirkus Reviews

2016-03-16
Char Hawthorn is faced with a terrible dilemma when her husband dies, leaving his ex-wife to decide whether or not Char will continue raising her teenage stepdaughter on her own. Career-driven Lindy says she wants Allie but won't make the time for her, while Char thinks Allie would be better off finishing out the school year at home but fears backlash from Lindy if she says so. Timmer's (Five Days Left, 2014) realistic dialogue and dark thoughts underscore the complicated emotions that govern blended families: "If you were Char, you worried you were trying too hard, making your stepdaughter (and her mother) suspect you were gunning for someone else's job." Char's strategy to play it safe soon backfires, and the unspoken custody battle waged between the two mothers becomes a tragedy of manners that causes Allie to fill the silence by acting out. For Char to be untethered from her husband and child would be life-changing on its own, but her story sharply segues into that of the 10-year-old girl that Allie tutors, Morgan Crew, who was plucked from a series of foster homes and raised by a couple whose son has special needs. When Morgan disappears, Allie takes the law into her own hands with devastating consequences. How Char, Lindy, and Morgan's parents handle the problem from there will leave readers with much to discuss about parental responsibility. While Char is likable, she has serious flaws that turn what at first seems to be a win-win situation into a morally ambiguous one—and the tension supplies plenty of fuel for late-night reading. Dramatic, yes, but also a thoughtfully written and ultimately uplifting celebration of families that are not bound by blood or by law but by love.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940169787764
Publisher:	Brilliance Audio
Publication date:	06/07/2016
Edition description:	Unabridged

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