Family Sold Separately: A Novel [Paperback]

Kate Long (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 26, 2008

From internationally bestselling author Kate Long, a perceptive, vivid, and painfully funny novel about family ties and growing up

On the eve of her eighteenth birthday, Katherine wants only three things: a smidge of social grace, the body of Courteney Cox, and two parents. What she has instead is an almost complete lack of friends, a pudgy figure, and one extremely eccentric, nearly blind grandmother named Poll. Since Katherine’s father died and her mother disappeared, Poll is her only family. And not only does Poll buy all of Katherine’s clothes, but she forbids her to leave the house unless it’s absolutely necessary. Would a chance to go to Oxford count? But the bigger question is: How can she abandon her grandma?

Just when Katherine has resigned herself to a lifetime of watching daytime television, sparring with Poll, and visiting the town library for “fun,” along comes a handsome, magnetic young man named Collum, who claims to be Katherine’s long-lost cousin. But as Katherine is about to learn, when it comes to family, things aren’t always as they seem.


Praise for Kate Long’s The Bad Mother’s Handbook

“Kate Long manages to brilliantly balance equal parts heartbreak and hilarity in a novel that you will love unconditionally.”
–Sarah Bird, author of The Flamenco Academy

“There is a lovely sweetness to this heartbreaking/heartwarming story.”
–The Seattle Times

“Funny, touching and utterly winning.”
–Publishers Weekly

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

According to family legend, members of Katherine Millar's family get the key of the door and the hammer of doom at the same time when they come of age. Which is why Long opens her clever fourth novel with Kat expecting the worst on her 18th birthday. An outcast at school, Kat longs to break away from the suffocating English village of Bank Top. As she wraps up exams and considers her next step, however, a boy turns Kat's world upside-down—leaving her to question everything she's been told about her father, who fell to the family curse in a fatal accident, and her mother, who abandoned Kat shortly thereafter. Long brings to life a host of quirky characters, including Poll, Kat's nearly blind and caustic paternal grandmother who raised her, and Poll's constant companion, Dickie the Dogman, a scavenger who regularly brings gifts of fatty bacon or vacuum cleaner attachments. Long's prose is faithful to the regional dialect, and the story effortlessly encapsulates the end of adolescence and Kat's mixed emotions as she redefines her notion of family and strikes out on her own. (Aug.)
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From Booklist

Long’s new novel is similar to her international best-seller The Bad Mother’s Handbook (2004) in its focus on a three-generational family of women in the Lancashire village of Bank Top. As she turns 18, Katherine Millar, who keeps the remains of two dead relatives in her bedroom, is increasingly resentful of her sight-impaired grandmother, Pollyana, who raised her after her mother took off when Kat was an infant. A big girl, Kat makes up for awkwardness and social ineptness with keen scholarship and looks to the local librarian for approval; yet her hopes for the future may be jinxed by Poll’s needs. Told by Kat with alternating narration by her mother, the story ranges across infidelity, untimely accidental death, abandonment, eating disorders, and the cruelty of children. Even with a satisfactory resolution and flashes of wit and humor, not enough love breaks through the dysfunction to evoke the warmth that was so winning in Long’s earlier work. Still, this is a heartfelt exploration of the meaning of family that will certainly be of interest to readers of The Bad Mother’s Handbook. --Michele Leber

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Product Details

• Paperback: 340 pages
• Publisher: Ballantine Books (August 26, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 034547967X
• ISBN-13: 978-0345479679
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 0.8 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,179,743 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars British coming of age story, October 13, 2008

By 

Armchair Interviews (Minneapolis, MN) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Family Sold Separately: A Novel (Paperback)

Family Sold Separately is the story of Katherine Millar-she prefers to be called Kat, an overweight, somewhat shy, disconnected and confused adolescent girl who lives in an unhappy household. The child of a father who died in her infancy and a mother who deserted her soon after, Kat has been raised by her paternal grandmother, a bitter, sarcastic and hateful woman who idolizes her dead son, hates Kat's runaway mother, and uses her near blindness to control and manipulate every aspect of Kat's life.

There's a saying that goes something like "it's not what happens to you in life but what you do with what happens to you that's important." In some ways, that sums up this novel by Kate Long. However, I'd add another phrase to that adage. "It's not what happens to you in life but what you do with what happens to you and how you feel about it that's important." Kat is a veritable potpourri of negative feelings: resentment, anger, betrayal, abandonment, grief, guilt, and worthlessness. She's a girl in danger of becoming the same cruel and heartless woman as her mean-spirited grandmother. In spite of all this negativity, or maybe because of it, Kat is also incredibly bright and insightful, her insight allowing her to see effective coping mechanisms for dealing with her grandmother and her intellect helping her to envision a different life for herself.

Long's intimate portrayal of adolescent angst rings so true it's hard for me to believe the story is not somewhat autobiographical in nature. Yes, there's the requisite mystery man, and a few twists and turns along the way, but the story pales in comparison to the portrait. There's only one other book that comes to mind that captures so completely the anguish of youth, J. D. Salinger's one and only work, Catcher in the Rye.

The only reason I haven't given Family Sold Separately five stars is because the frequent use of British colloquialisms and dialect interfered with my enjoyment of the book. That being said, Holden Caulfield and Kat are soul mates indeed. And I don't say this lightly: It's a bloody good book.

Armchair Interviews says: Wonderful fiction for young adults--with alert about British word usage.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars fascinating look at a teen, August 26, 2008

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Family Sold Separately: A Novel (Paperback)

She has heard her entire life about the family curse that haunts the Millers. Katherine knows when she turns eighteen tomorrow she will meet the doom that destroys every generation when they turn adult.

Not that Kat has had much of life anyway In Bank Top, England. Her dreams will never be answered even the simplest ones like social acceptance by her peers, a lithe body, leaving the hamlet forever and two parents; her dad died when the curse struck in an accident and her mom fled the village leaving her with Poll, her legally blind grandma known for verbally ripping skin, and Poll's companion garbage dump scavenger Dickie the Dogman. Kat knows Poll needs her so she has no hope except to become as acerbic as her grandma is while watching afternoon television shows that require no brain power. Everything changes when Collum arrives at Bank Top, claiming he is Kat's cousin.

This is a fascinating look at a teen on the brink of independence adulthood struggling between her desires and her family responsibilities even as she anticipates the expected disaster to strike any moment. Kate better understands now why her mom left but feels guilt over considering doing the same because she believes her caustic grandma needs her. The local dialogue is a two edge sword as its usage brings a sense of location, but can be distracting. Still FAMILY SOLD SEPARATELY is a strong character study starring a dreamer who fears her flights of fancy will prove either futile or nightmarish.

Harriet Klausner