In the vein of Mary Beth Keane’s Ask Again, Yes and Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney’s The Nest, Tracey Lange’s We Are the Brennans explores the staying power of shame―and the redemptive power of love―in an Irish Catholic family torn apart by secrets.

When twenty-nine-year-old Sunday Brennan wakes up in a Los Angeles hospital, bruised and battered after a drunk driving accident she caused, she swallows her pride and goes home to her family in New York. But it’s not easy. She deserted them all―and her high school sweetheart―five years before with little explanation, and they’ve got questions.

Sunday is determined to rebuild her life back on the east coast, even if it does mean tiptoeing around resentful brothers and an ex-fiancé. The longer she stays, however, the more she realizes they need her just as much as she needs them. When a dangerous man from her past brings her family’s pub business to the brink of financial ruin, the only way to protect them is to upend all their secrets―secrets that have damaged the family for generations and will threaten everything they know about their lives. In the aftermath, the Brennan family is forced to confront painful mistakes―and ultimately find a way forward, together.

I love a good multi-generational family drama, and this one delivers.

Sunday Brennan is twenty-nine and has somehow found herself alone in a Los Angeles hospital after causing a drunk driving accident. She’s bruised, battered, and out of options. So she swallows her pride and goes home to her family in New York. The family she walked out on five years ago with barely an explanation.

Her departure left wounds. Her brothers are resentful. Her ex-fiancé is hurt and angry. And everyone has questions she’s not ready to answer. But Sunday is determined to rebuild her life back on the east coast, even if it means finally facing the real reason she left when a dangerous man from her past threatens to destroy everything the family has built. And the only way to protect her family is to finally tell the truth, even if it means it might rip them apart.

The story is strong and the relationships are believable. I especially loved that we got to hear from multiple characters over the course of the story. We get Sunday’s perspective, but we also hear from her brothers, her ex, and a couple of other people deeply intertwined in the family drama. This helped paint a comprehensive picture of the Brennan family and all the complicated, messy dynamics at play. I also liked that no one in this story is squeaky clean. Almost everyone has a secret or made mistakes they’re not proud of. Watching these secrets collide until the family had no choice but to face their past, deal with it, and figure out how to move forward was incredibly satisfying.

The Brennans are an Irish Catholic family, and Lange does a great job showing how guilt and shame can be passed down through generations like heirlooms. Everyone is so busy protecting each other from the truth that they’re actually making everything worse. Sunday is a complicated character. She’s flawed and she’s made terrible choices, but she’s trying to be better. And even though she stumbles, you root for her. You want her to and the rest of her family to be happy.

The romance between Sunday and her ex-fiancé is handled well too. There’s history there, and there’s also real hurt. I appreciated that the author lets them take their time figuring out if they can trust each other again. I also appreciated that not everything is cleaned up in the end. Some things are resolved, some relationships are mended, but not everything is fixed, and I liked it that way. It makes it more realistic. Families don’t just magically heal because everyone finally told the truth. It takes time. It takes work. And even then, some scars don’t fully go away.

If you’re drawn to stories about people trying to make amends and families trying to find their way back to each other, pick this up. The characters are memorable. The family dynamics are complicated and real. And the story will stay with you.

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