In some ways, Stella Sandell is an average teenager. In other ways, she is anything but. On the one hand, she just wants to spend time with her friends, dance and drink and flirt, and save her earnings from H&M for an amazing trip through Asia.
On the other hand, Stella’s on trial for murder.
Stella’s father is a pastor, and he’s struggling with feelings of helplessness regarding the justice system. He’s blaming himself for his shortcomings as a father. He is questioning his moral compass. He pushes for answers. He pushes his daughter’s lawyer, he pushes his wife, he pushes his wife, and he pushes their friends until he can’t do anything except worry.
Stella’s mother is a well respected attorney. She understands aspects of Stella’s defense better than anyone. But as the days and weeks go by without getting to see her daughter, with Stella locked up with no visiting privileges, her mother fights within herself. Getting Stella exonerated, and keeping her family together, is going to take all of her strength. And while she and Stella have struggled through the years, she knows that this is something she has to do for her daughter, to make sure she has a future.
A Nearly Normal Family is not your average thriller. A slow burn unwinding of a family’s story, it’s powerful in a quiet way. The Swedish novel by M. T. Edvardsson is told in three parts. The first part is the story of Stella’s arrest and trial through her father’s eyes. The second part is told by Stella herself, and the third part is the perspective of her mother. Taken together, the three strands of A Nearly Normal Family weave together to show the whole picture of a family through a series of traumatic events that ends with a man losing his life and an 18-year-old girl on trial.
A Nearly Normal Family is a beautifully told story of a family in crisis, of three individuals whose lives could blow apart at any moment. It’s a story of how relationships develop and diverge, how family relationships make us who we are and threaten to tear us apart. I really loved how this novel drew me in with the emotion of the story and then walked me through to the facts of the crime. While Stella’s family isn’t perfect, it is three people who genuinely love each other, and that makes for a moving story. I recommend this one. Added bonus: an interesting look at the Swedish justice system.
Galleys for A Nearly Normal Family were provided by Celadon Books through NetGalley, with many thanks.