She Treads Softly: Estate: To my once darling child

Wednesday, August 13, 2025

Estate: To my once darling child

Estate: To my once darling child by J. Andrew Shelley
8/1/25; 256 pages
TENZL

Estate: To my once darling child by J. Andrew Shelley is a highly recommended dysfunctional family drama centered around the many complications experienced as a son, who was named executor, closes the estate of his late mother. This is the fictional, but true-to-life, well-written, and sometimes humorous tale of what not to leave behind or unplanned for your family to handle upon your death, as well as a warning that after a death someone will have hurt feelings over something.

Tim Watts is the eldest son of Holly Suter Hampton and was named the executor of her estate. His younger brothers are Matt and Ethan. Their youngest brother died earlier. His mother said handling her estate would be easy, but it was everything but easy. The even paced narrative follows Tim trying to wade through the paperwork, hurt feelings, and too much stuff involved.

Their mother was not a beloved character. She was a passive aggressive manipulator and a hoarder. One important lesson to take from this novel is to collect all your paperwork, will, and get your affairs in order early. Another is to get rid of your stuff before hand. You may love that collection of (insert knick-knack) but it will likely be a burden to the next generation. If you have everything in order it will reduce subsequent hurt feelings and arguments.

Having experienced the sudden, unexpected death of a family member and all the problems which followed, this story almost cut too close to home. Certainly it delineates everything involved that can makes a death a stressful time that will bring out the true character of everyone involved, including greed and entitlement.

Estate: To my once darling child is a great choice for those who enjoy dysfunctional family dramas with an underlying helpful message. Thanks to J. Andrew Shelley for providing me with an advance reader's copy via LibraryThing Early Reviewers giveaway. 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.