ECONOGAL

Family Drama is a debut novel by Rebecca Fallon. It begins with the funeral of Susan, heroine of the story. Fallon jumps between Susan’s life and the story of her family after her death.  This is a debut novel and has the hallmarks of one. The start of the novel is captivating. Then the middle becomes a bit muddled. However, those with persistence are well rewarded. The complexities of the novel make it unique.

Susan is torn between two loves, her family and her career thus creating much family drama. She is an actress and stars on a popular soap opera filmed on the West Coast. Her family: her husband and twins reside in New England. She wears out with a constant shuttling back-and-forth.

The current story focuses on the motherless twins growing up to adulthood. Viola and Sebastion differ in personalities as well as in memories of their mother. Viola is serious and scholarly like her father even though her looks resemble her mother. Sebastion is far more artsy and hates to study. Plus, he is obsessed with Susan the actress.

Fallon’s plot is intriguing, if a bit unsettling. Young Viola falls in love with her mother’s co-star when she meets him at the funeral. And again, many years later as a college student in England. Their relationship is troubling until the author unravels the plot.

Meanwhile, Sebastian continues his rebellion against their father. He is unwilling to accept a replacement for his mother even though her death occurred fifteen years prior. Fortunately, Sebastian learns to channel his anger into art.

The distancing between the twins as they mature is blamed by both on their mother’s premature death. Yet, they are also accountable.

Husband and father, Al bears the brunt of the blame both before and after Susan’s death. Yet the author does not paint him as a villain. His blunders in handling the twins as they grow stem from his own great loss. However, Fallon takes her time in revealing the depth of his love for Susan. His grief is truly the cause of the later family drama.

I enjoyed this debut novel. Hard to put down from the first, the complexities keep the drama from roaring past reflection. This is a good book to look for at the library. Since Family Drama is a 2026 release, copies should be in all major bookstores.