Rebecca Fallon

Susan Bliss is torn between two lives. Her husband Al has decided only one will be remembered. It’s the 1990s and Susan Bliss is torn between two lives. In New England, she’s a young mother, married to a history professor. In Los Angeles, she is a star of Life and Times, a daily fixture on TV screens nation-wide. But when Susan dies, her husband Al decides that only one life will be remembered. It’s the 2000s and Viola and Sebastian have no idea of their mother’s fame. But the past can’t stay hidden forever, and as the teenaged twins pursue the secrets their mother left behind, they spin off in different directions. Obsession, ambition, love, pain, wonder, mystery. Every family has its dramas. Can we ever know someone entirely? Perfect for fans of Maggie O’Farrell, Anne Tyler or Celeste Ng, Family Drama is an exquisite debut novel about the people we become and the fantasies we create.

A vibrant debut and powerful meditation on family, motherhood, and the cost of holding on to your dreams, reminiscent of Ann Napolitano. It's 1997, and snow is blanketing a New England beach. Two befuddled seven-year-olds watch as their mother's body is tipped overboard a crumbling boat. A Viking funeral, followed by a raucous wake. A send-off fit for soap opera star: Susan Bliss. Fifteen years earlier, Susan is a blazing, beautiful young woman, passionate about her art. It's impossible not to fall in love with her, and so Alcott, a practical professor, does--hopelessly. And so begins the love story of Susan's two-paneled life: an unconventional, jetlag-filled arrangement that takes her back and forth between her life in New England as a wife and mother to young twins to the bright lights of Los Angeles, where she becomes the beloved star of a daytime soap. In the present, Susan's twins grow up in the shadow of her all-consuming absence. Sebastian, a sensitive artist, cleaves to her memory, fascinated with the artifacts of her starry past. Viola, resentful of her mother's torn allegiances, distances herself from the memories of her. But when Viola runs into her mother's old costar Orson Grey--now a renowned Hollywood star--she finds herself falling deeply in love with him and begins to put together the pieces of a mother she never really knew. Sharp, assured, and beautifully written, Family Drama is a story told in double-helix, with intertwined timelines that explore the different versions of ourselves we share with the world and with each other.

Everything you need to know about a pacemaker or defibrillator Implantable cardiac devices are life-saving tools that have been in use for decades. But when you or a loved one has been advised to get a pacemaker, implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD), or cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) device, where do you turn for practical information about what life with your device will be like? The fact is that no single source provides patients and their families with the real-life information they need and want. Until now. Understanding Your Pacemaker or Defibrillator: What Patients and Families Need to Know fills this void with a wealth of useful information for patients who have or require an implantable device.Written from a uniquely comprehensive perspective by three very diverse experts - an experienced cardiologist who has worked with thousands of cardiac device patients and their families, a certified cardiac device specialist who also specializes in patient psychology, and a patient living with an implanted cardiac device - this book explains everything you need to know about living with a pacemaker, ICD, or CRT device including normal and abnormal heart function, misperceptions about implantable devices, what to expect during and after the procedure, follow-up care and possible complications, and practicalities of living with an implanted device. Using accessible, understandable language, Understanding Your Pacemaker or Defibrillator will answer your questions (even the ones you didn't know to ask!), allay your fears, and help you live a long and healthy life with your device.