A Nearly Normal Family: A Novel

M. T. Edvardsson

Jun 2019 · Sold by Celadon Books

About this ebook

Now a Netflix Limited Series

"...A compulsively readable tour de force." —The Wall Street Journal

New York Times Book Review recommends M.T. Edvardsson’s A Nearly Normal Family and lauds it as a “page-turner” that forces the reader to confront “the compromises we make with ourselves to be the people we believe our beloveds expect.” (NYTimes Book Review Summer Reading Issue)

M.T. Edvardsson’s A Nearly Normal Family is a gripping legal thriller that forces the reader to consider: How far would you go to protect the ones you love? In this twisted narrative of love and murder, a horrific crime makes a seemingly normal family question everything they thought they knew about their life—and one another.

Eighteen-year-old Stella Sandell stands accused of the brutal murder of a man almost fifteen years her senior. She is an ordinary teenager from an upstanding local family. What reason could she have to know a shady businessman, let alone to kill him?

Stella’s father, a pastor, and mother, a criminal defense attorney, find their moral compasses tested as they defend their daughter, while struggling to understand why she is a suspect. Told in an unusual three-part structure, A Nearly Normal Family asks the questions: How well do you know your own children? How far would you go to protect them?

Ratings and reviews

Normal is subjective, right? It would seem so in this drama that's bursting at the seams with family dysfunction. There has been a lot of hype surrounding A Nearly Normal Family, so maybe I had it built up a little too high before I even started reading. Whatever the reason, this one just didn't do it for me. There is some pretty good courtroom drama, which is something I like, but the book is drawn out at times, making it a bit too easy to set aside. Parts of the story are choppy and awkward, but that may be due to the translation, and that's something I can overlook. The deal breaker for me is that this one just didn't hold my interest. In the end, it didn't live up to the hype for me and was much easier to set aside than to pick back up.

Crazy good! Could not put down.

Liked it!

About the author

M. T. Edvardsson is an author and teacher from Trelleborg, Sweden. He is the author of multiple novels. A Nearly Normal Family is his first published in the United States. He lives with his family in Löddeköpinge, Sweden.