If you hang out here at BBB with any regularity, you know that I'm an adoptive mom as well as an avid genealogist.  I'm so into family history, in fact, that I'm currently working on becoming accredited as a professional genealogist in two regions: U.S. Southwest and U.S. Great Lakes.  COVID has slowed the process, but I'm hoping to finish my testing this year.  I'm not a big tv watcher (I'd rather read, thank you very much!); however, I have been known to binge-watch shows like Finding Your Roots, Genealogy Roadshow, Relative Race, and Who Do You Think You Are?.  I've been quietly researching my adopted daughter's birth family's genealogy since she was born.  Bottom line?  I go nuts over anything related to family history: research, DNA, adoption reunions, family heirlooms, passed-down stories, etc.  Given all that, I was immediately drawn to The Lost Family by Libby Copeland.  How could I resist a book that promised to tick off so many of my favorite reading boxes? 

The book tells the story of Alice Collins Plebuch, a woman who took a DNA test that returned results that were unexpected and perplexing.  To say the least.  The confusing information led her on a journey that required painstaking research, uncomfortable questions, and an almost complete overhaul of everything she knew about herself and her family.  Copeland uses Plebuch's incredible story as a framework for discussing the relatively new technology of DNA home-testing, which allows anyone to spit in a tube, upload very personal information to a very public forum, and share all the secrets hiding in their genes with the world.  While doing so has led to joyous reunions between biological family members, answers to heart-wrenching questions, and even the bringing to justice of the Golden State Killer, they've also been the catalyst for broken hearts, renewed feelings of abandonment, privacy breaches, and the revelation of long-buried secrets that maybe should have been kept that way.  Copeland poses some deep, thought-provoking questions on the subject like:

(Image from Barnes & Noble)

Although they're as different as three women can be, Liza, Maggie, and Tricia have always formed a tight trio.  The Sweeney Sisters—daughters of the universally-beloved literary lion, Bill Sweeney—were a familiar sight around the small, seaside town of Southport, Connecticut, where they grew up.  Now that they're adults, the women have spread their wings, with Tricia working as a hotshot lawyer in Manhattan, Maggie attempting to make ends meet as an artist-in-residence in western Connecticut, and Liza trying to balance marriage, motherhood, and ownership of a successful Southport art gallery.  Tension and distance have strained relationships between the sisters.  When their father dies unexpectedly, the threesome is reunited in their hometown for a raucous goodbye party and the reading of Bill's will. 

The presence of a mystery woman at Bill's wake causes some confusion, then utter shock.  Unbeknownst to Liza, Maggie, and Tricia, their father had an affair with a neighbor that resulted in another Sweeney Sister.  Serena Tucker, a 38-year-old investigative journalist, grew up next door to her half-sisters without any of the girls knowing they were related.  Until a DNA test Serena took six months ago revealed the truth.  Suspicious of Serena's timing, the original Sweeney Sisters aren't sure what to think of the new addition.  What does the woman want from them?  Is she after an inheritance?  Or does she want the memoir Bill was reportedly writing, the juicy tell-all that could expose all the family secrets and make its finder a very wealthy woman?  As the four women hunt for the manuscript together, they will make some surprising discoveries about each other, their father, and what family and sisterhood really mean.  

I love books involving family secrets, family history, and DNA discoveries, so I was excited to give The Sweeney Sisters by Lian Dolan a go.  While I didn't end up absolutely loving the novel, I did enjoy it.  This is a character-driven story, with four interesting women at its heart.  Each is well-crafted, empathetic, and admirable in her own way.  I enjoyed reading about all of them.  There's not a lot of action in The Sweeney Sisters, but there was enough to keep me turning pages.  In the end, I found this tale to be a pleasant, funny, and entertaining read, even if I didn't fall head-over-heels in love with it.

(Readalikes:  Reminds me of The Last Chance Matinee by Mariah Stewart and The Sisters Heminway by Annie England Noblin)

Grade:

If this were a movie, it would be rated:

for language (a handful of F-bombs, plus milder expletives) and mild sexual content

To the FTC, with love:  I received an ARC of The Sweeney Sisters from the generous folks at William Morrow (an imprint of HarperCollins).  Thank you!