The Perfect Son

White, Barbara Claypole

ISBN 10: 1501252046 ISBN 13: 9781501252044

Publisher: Brilliance Audio, 2015

Synopsis

From a distance, Felix Fitzwilliam, the son of an old English family, is a good husband and father. But, obsessed with order and routine, he’s a prisoner to perfection. Disengaged from the emotional life of his North Carolina family, Felix has let his wife, Ella, deal with their special-needs son by herself.

A talented jewelry designer turned full-time mother, Ella is the family rock...until her heart attack shatters their carefully structured existence. Now Harry, a gifted teen grappling with the chaos of Tourette’s syndrome, confronts a world outside his parents’ control, one that tests his desire for independence.

As Harry searches for his future, and Ella adapts to the limits of her failing health, Felix struggles with his past and present roles. To prevent the family from being ripped apart, they must each bend with the inevitability of change and reinforce the ties that bind.

About this title

About the Author:

English born and educated, Barbara Claypole White lives in the North Carolina forest with her family. Inspired by her poet/musician son’s courageous battles against obsessive-compulsive disorder, Barbara writes hopeful stories about troubled families with a healthy dose of mental illness. Her debut novel, The Unfinished Garden, won the 2013 Golden Quill Contest for Best First Book, and The In-Between Hour was chosen by SIBA (the Southern Independent Booksellers) as a Winter 2014 Okra Pick. For more information, or to connect with Barbara, please visit barbaraclaypolewhite.com.

Review:

“Barbara Claypole White’s novel, The Perfect Son, is a riveting and passionate emotional journey that proves the transforming power that love can have on life and family.” —Dorothea Benton Frank, New York Times Bestselling Author

“What a moving, funny, beautifully told story! You will ache for Felix and Harry, with their big, quirky brains and their good hearts, as they grapple with the threat of loss and struggle, for the first time, to truly know and trust one another. I love these characters and this book!” —Marisa de Los Santos, New York Times bestselling author of Belong To Me and The Precious One

“Steel Magnolias for this generation of ex-pats trying to find their way in the world. With clear-eyed insight and empathy, The Perfect Son captures the ache and beauty of love in its many forms. In a beautifully told story, Barbara Claypole White takes us on a poignant journey through the minds and hearts of a mother, a father, and their eccentric son. As they all learn to love through loss, change, and fear, we as readers just might find our hearts as the characters find theirs.” —Patti Callahan Henry, New York Times bestselling author of The Idea of Love

“In The Perfect Son, White has crafted a tightly-wound tale of a family on the brink of unravelling that somehow manages to find a way to make it through. These unconventional, fully-formed characters became real to me as I followed their emotional roller-coaster. Poignant and affecting—it's a great read for your book club!” —Catherine McKenzie, bestselling author of Hidden and Forgotten

“With empathy and heartbreaking clarity, Barbara Claypole White explores a family on the precipice of collapse. With the unexamined past coloring their present, a father’s only hope to accept his son’s limitations and be strong for his ailing wife is in finding the resilience to face his own imperfections. The Perfect Son offers insight, compassion, and hope.” —Randy Susan Meyers, bestselling author of Accidents of Marriage, The Comfort of Lies, and The Murderer’s Daughters

“The Perfect Son is about the roles we settle into in families—The Caretaker, The Neglector, The High-Maintenance One—and the upheaval that occurs when crisis strikes and everyone needs to take on a new, unfamiliar role. It's about raising complicated children, and the strain that places on a marriage. But above all, The Perfect Son is about love, and its ability to guide us out of our comfort zones and help us rebuild when all around us has shattered.” —Julie Lawson Timmer, author of Five Days Left

About this edition

• Publisher: Brilliance Audio
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 1501252046
• ISBN 13: 9781501252044
• Binding: Audio CD