THE FIGGS

THE FIGGS combines the startling humour and fierce energy of Heather O'Neill, the heart of Little Miss Sunshine, and the unruly family dynamics of Jonathan Tropper's This Is Where I Leave You into one hilarious, immensely fun novel.

Meet The Figgs. June, the family's matriarch, looks forward to a quiet retirement — if only she can get her three adult children to finally, finally, move out of the house. But her dreams are shattered when her son Derek unexpectedly becomes a single father. Now there's a newborn baby in the house, and Derek's siblings are showing no sign of going anywhere either. In the midst of the chaos, June's husband, Randy, has a shocking revelation: he has another son, who was given up for adoption.

With family life flying fast and furious around her, June finds herself thinking about her own adoptive parents. Where did she come from? Does Randy's adopted son experience the same longing she's always felt? Will her new grandson be traumatized without his mother? And why in the world are all the kids still at home, anyway?

All of which makes for a hilarious portrait of a modern, mostly happy family, in all its glorious messiness.

Ali Bryan's first novel, Roost, won the Georges Bugnet Award for Fiction and was the official selection of One Book Nova Scotia 2014. Her non-fiction has been shortlisted for the Jon Whyte Memorial Essay Prize and longlisted for the CBC Creative Non-Fiction Prize. She's known for her witty, laugh-out-loud writing and her edgy takes on domestic life. She is a certified personal trainer and lives with her husband, three children, and rabbit Alfie in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.