French Braid by Anne Tyler

Every family has its knots — the small tangles of love, resentment, and memory that hold them together and pull them apart.

In French Braid, Anne Tyler traces the Garrett family across six decades, beginning with a summer vacation in the 1950s that subtly reshapes their lives. Mercy dreams of independence, Robin clings to tradition, and their three children — Alice, Lily, and David — carry forward the quiet echoes of that tension in unexpected ways.

With her signature wit and compassion, Tyler explores the gentle ways families drift apart and the invisible threads that still bind them. Each generation leaves its mark, like strands in a braid — distinct yet inseparable.

Tender, observant, and deeply human, French Braid is a luminous portrait of ordinary lives and the enduring, complicated beauty of family.