Untethered

by Julie Lawson Timmer

Overview

When Char Hawthorn'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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780698407862
Publisher:	Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date:	06/07/2016
Sold by:	Penguin Group
Format:	eBook
Pages:	352
File size:	707 KB

About the Author

Julie Lawson Timmer grew up in Ontario and earned a bachelor’s degree from McMaster University before heading south of the border. She has a law degree from Southern Methodist University and works as in-house legal counsel in Michigan. She is the author of Five Days Left and lives in Ann Arbor with her husband and children.

Reading Group Guide

Discussion Questions


1. Ignoring the issue of who has legal rights to Allie and who does not, who do you think Allie should live with: her stepmother, Char, or her biological mother, Lindy? Why?
2. Should Char shoulder some of the blame for Allie’s behavior throughout the book? Why or why not?
3. Allie and Char are both grieving the loss of Bradley. How are they able to help one another throughout this time? How are their mourning processes different?
4. Legally, Char has no parental rights to Allie once Bradley dies. Do you agree with this law? Should stepparents have certain rights to their stepchildren in the event of a spouse’s death?
5. Allie and Morgan have a special bond. Why do you think this is? What do they provide for one another to make their relationship so special?
6. Dave Crew ultimately prioritizes his biological son over his adopted daughter. Is this understandable, or is it reprehensible?
7. “Rehoming” is a difficult, but very real, event that occurs in adoptive families. Do you agree with the Crews’ decision to rehome Morgan? Was Morgan’s violent behavior enough of a reason to do so?
8. One of the issues the Crews face is an inability to afford post-adoption mental-health services for Morgan. Do you believe there was more they could have done? Should the state and federal governments improve the availability of these services?
9. Should Char have reported the Crews to the Michigan authorities? Why or why not?
10. We get a glimpse of how things turned out for Char, Allie, and Morgan. How do you think things turned out for the Crews?
11. There are several different mother-daughter relationships explored throughout the book: Allie and Char; Allie and Lindy; Morgan and Sarah. How are these relationships different? How are they similar? Did you relate to one relationship more than the others?

Editorial Reviews

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

From the Publisher

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.

Kirkus Reviews