This book of dark secrets opens with a blaze. On the morning of her daughter's wedding, June Reid's house goes up in flames, destroying her entire family - her present, her past and her future. Fleeing from the carnage, stricken and alone, June finds herself in a motel room by the ocean, hundreds of miles from her Connecticut home, held captive by memories and the mistakes she has made with her only child, Lolly, and her partner, Luke.
In the turbulence of grief and gossip left in June's wake we slowly make sense of the unimaginable. The novel is a gathering of voices, and each testimony has a new revelation about what led to the catastrophe - Luke's alienated mother Lydia, the watchful motel owners, their cleaner Cissy, the teenage pothead who lives nearby - everyone touched by the tragedy finds themselves caught in the undertow, as their secret histories finally come to light.
Lit by the clarity of understanding that true sadness brings, Did You Ever Have a Family is an elegant, unforgettable story that reveals humanity at its worst and best, through loss and love, fracture and forgiveness. At the book's heart is the idea of family - the ones we are born with and the ones we create - and the desire, in the face of everything, to go on living.
Albert Martin Li graduated from the University of Wales College of Medicine and received his paediatric training at King's College Hospital and Great Ormond Street Hospital, the United Kingdom before he joined academic Paediatrics at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. He is currently the Chairman of the Department of Paediatrics and Assistant Dean of the Faculty of Medicine. His clinical and research interests are in sleep-disordered breathing and respiratory diseases in childhood.
Kate Ching-ching Chan graduated from the Chinese University of Hong Kong. She received her paediatric training and subspecialty training in paediatric respiratory medicine at the Prince of Wales Hospital, Hong Kong. She is now a Clinical Professional Consultant at the Department of Paediatrics, the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Her clinical and research interests are in paediatric sleep-disordered breathing and respiratory diseases.
