Book excerpt: Every family is dysfunctional in one way or another, but mostly the Blankenships get along in spite of themselves. Cecile, the family matriarch, has invited (read commanded) everyone to a family reunion at the ancestral ranch near Yellowstone. Annie brings inconsolable sorrow, Hetty dreads her parents' reaction to her latest lover, Evan has a secret, and Serhilda wants to be anywhere else. With four generations living in each others' pockets, everyone expects bickering, spats, hurt feelings, and perhaps a few secrets finally revealed. When the week is over, even Cecile wonders if the reunion brought the family closer together, as she had hoped, or created rifts so great that they'll never be mended.