Ann Patchett is a brilliant writer and this is a brilliant book. It’s the story of two families bound together by divorce and remarriage. When the Cousins children’s father marries the Keating sisters’s mother after meeting at the baptism of the youngest Keating child, two families and 6 children are bound together by heartbreak, love, generosity, and tragedy. The story spans five decades and explores the relationships among the children and the parents and the impact of on tragic event on all their lives. The book brilliantly chronicles what it was like to grow up in the 60s and 70s when children roamed freely with little adult supervision, and it explores with candor and compassion the bonds forged between and alliances created among children thrown into a situation beyond their control. It is also an exploration of family stories- who remembers them and who has the right to tell them. The book moves back and forth in time -the characters and the story develop together to create an a book that is at once propulsively readable and highly reflective.