She Treads Softly: The Accidental Favorite

Wednesday, June 4, 2025

The Accidental Favorite

The Accidental Favorite by Fran Littlewood
6/24/25; 320 pages
Henry Holt & Company

The Accidental Favorite by Fran Littlewood is a recommended drama featuring a dysfunctional family.

Vivienne and Patrick Fisher have three adult daughters, Alex, 45, Nancy, 44, and Eva, 40. When all three generations of the family gather at a glass house in the country to celebrate Vivienne's 70th birthday a near- tragic accident reveals to everyone that their father, Patrick, has a favorite daughter. This revelation results in sibling rivalries being resumed, while secrets abound, long held resentments surfaces, and family ties are strained.

The narrative unfolds from alternating perspectives of the sisters Alex, Nancy, and Eva, and their mother, Vivienne. The revelations follow events from 1976 to the present, exposing their present situations and past grievances. As with any family the tensions can span years and confront varying different memories of events. Also included are all the children and partners of the sisters.

Occasionally an insightful and impactful observation surfaces, and there is some humor along with emotional depth, but, beyond that, the plot mostly feels unfocused as it wanders between memories and current problems. They are all portrayed as realistic individuals, but, personally, I struggled with caring about all these characters. I was left with the overwhelming questions: Why did they all agree to this week long vacation together? Why not just a quick weekend?

Normally, a story with a dysfunctional family can hold my attention, but I struggled here. It may be the author's writing style simply isn't a preferred style for me. The ending did bump up my rating. If you like dramas with messy dysfunctional families you might want to give The Accidental Favorite a try. Thanks to Henry Holt & Company for providing me with an advance reader's copy via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.

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John Updike's six rules for reviewing:

1. Try to understand what the author wished to do, and do not blame him for not achieving what he did not attempt.

2. Give him enough direct quotation--at least one extended passage--of the book's prose so the review's reader can form his own impression, can get his own taste.

3. Confirm your description of the book with quotation from the book, if only phrase-long, rather than proceeding by fuzzy precis.

4. Go easy on plot summary, and do not give away the ending.

5. If the book is judged deficient, cite a successful example along the same lines, from the author's oeuvre or elsewhere. Try to understand the failure. Sure it's his and not yours?

To these concrete five might be added a vaguer sixth, having to do with maintaining a chemical purity in the reaction between product and appraiser.....Review the book, not the reputation.... Better to praise and share than blame and ban. The communion between reviewer and his public is based upon the presumption of certain possible joys in reading, and all our discriminations should curve toward that end.