The Accidental Favorite: A Novel

by Fran Littlewood

Overview

Notes From Your Bookseller

A seemingly perfect family proven imperfect by a surprising revelation — Dad has a favorite daughter. Packed with humor, heart and fascinating family dynamics, this is a read that makes you ponder what it is to be a part of a familial unit.

From the New York Times bestselling author of Amazing Grace Adams comes a wryly resonant and deeply moving family dramedy investigating the question so many of us have asked ourselves: do my parents have a favorite?

Vivienne and Patrick Fisher have done an excellent job raising their three daughters, Alex, Nancy, and Eva. They’re well-adjusted women with impressive careers, caring partners, exciting hobbies, and sweet children. So it’s with great anticipation that three generations of Fishers gather at a beautiful glass house in the English countryside for a weeklong celebration of Vivienne’s seventieth birthday. But when Patrick’s reaction to a freak accident on the first day of the trip inadvertently reveals that he has a favorite daughter, no one is prepared for the shockwaves it sends through the family.

Decades-old unresolved sibling rivalries are suddenly unmasked. And be it newly uncovered smoking habits, ancient crushes, or private doubts about life decisions both big and small, no one’s secrets are safe. Still-tender wounds are reopened amid an audience of friends, husbands, grandchildren, and even coworkers, and as the family's past is re-written, they find themselves suddenly unmoored.

In a lively, poignant examination of memory, sisterhood, and family ties, Fran Littlewood reminds us just why it is that people in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250857118
Publisher:	Holt, Henry & Company, Inc.
Publication date:	06/24/2025
Pages:	320
Product dimensions:	6.40(w) x 9.20(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

Fran Littlewood is the author of Amazing Grace Adams, which was an instant New York Times bestseller and a #ReadWithJenna book club pick. She has an MA in creative writing from Royal Holloway, University of London. Before her MA, she worked as a journalist, including a stint at the Times. She lives in London with her husband and their three daughters.

Editorial Reviews

04/07/2025

Tensions flare during an English family’s vacation in the country in Littlewood’s emotive sophomore outing (after Amazing Grace Adams). The action begins with a falling tree, when Patrick Fisher rushes past his two older grown daughters, Alex and Nancy, to save their younger sister, Eva—who is least in danger. Alex, the eldest at 45, resents her husband, Luc, who doesn’t pitch in enough with their three children. She obsessively lurks on social media for updates on her first boyfriend, Matt, whom she hasn’t seen in decades, and struggles with not having lived up to her potential after being deemed the smart one by her parents. Nancy, 44, worries that her childhood reputation as the family screwup will reemerge if she tells them she’s been suspended from her doctor job following a clash with a patient. Eva, a child model turned savvy businesswoman at 40, is anxious about the family discovering her recent secret marriage to Scott, whom her parents and siblings think is a gold digger. Some of the action is a bit stagey, but the sisters’ bitterness, judgments, and rivalries feel all too genuine, and the story shifts effortlessly between the present and the sisters’ childhoods, culminating in the revelation of a secret that explains Patrick’s behavior. The author’s fans will find much to love. (June)

Publishers Weekly

One of Oprah Daily's Best Summer Reads of 2025

A People Most Anticipated Summer Book of 2025

“What makes this sibling dramedy so delectable is Littlewood’s writing, which many readers know from her smash debut, Amazing Grace Adams. All the nuances of sisterhood, daughterhood, wifehood, motherhood, divorcehood, and more are illuminated by this tale of spilled wine, slapped faces, and enduring family love.”

—Oprah Daily

“Packed with humor, heart and fascinating family dynamics, this is a read that makes you ponder what it is to be a part of a familial unit.”

—Barnes & Noble Best Books of June 2025

“Packed with humor, heart and fascinating family dynamics, this is a read that makes you ponder what it is to be a part of a familial unit.”

—Barnes & Noble Best Books of June 2025

“Even under pressure, sisterhood is powerful in this entertaining and well-crafted novel.”

—Kirkus Reviews (starred)

“A compelling drama about a dysfunctional family that will make readers laugh out loud and cringe all at once....Littlewood’s sharp characters and emotional depth beautifully capture the messy and complicated side of adults’ relationships to their families of origin, quirks and all.”

—Library Journal

“Littlewood again has her finger on the pulse of the woman on the edge, balancing an impressive cast of characters....Readers will gladly go along on this wild ride.”

—Booklist

“[A] fascinating look at one family and their complicated truths….Every moment feels alive....Full of tender moments and thoughtful insights, The Accidental Favorite will be a favorite of readers, perfect for those with imperfect families—which is to say all of us.”

—Shelf Awareness

“Tensions flare during an English family’s vacation in the country in Littlewood’s emotive sophomore outing....The author’s fans will find much to love.”

—Publishers Weekly

“Kaleidoscopic....the novel excels in revealing the complicated tangle of sisterly love and resentment and how children internalize events that they don’t understand.”

—BookPage

“Moving between perspectives and timelines, this warm, wise story celebrates sisterhood, forgiveness, and the complexities of family love.”

—BiblioLifestyle, 13 Books I've Loved

“Fran Littlewood is an expert chronicler of family dynamics, and particularly the complex, competitive, and sparkling nature of sisterhood. Once I picked up The Accidental Favorite, I did not want to put it down until the last page was turned.”

—Lottie Hazell, author of Piglet

“A tender story about the corrosive power of secrets and what it means to finally let them go. Littlewood writes with pinpoint accuracy about the dynamics between siblings and the beautiful and terrible mess that is family.”

—Daisy Alpert Florin, author of My Last Innocent Year

“Now and again I read a book which is so FABULOUS I get queasy with jealousy. This is one such book. God, I wish I had written it. 3 sisters in their 40s. Funny, dark, fascinating and utterly UTTERLY convincing. On my QWJ (Queasy With Jealousy) Scale, I award it 16/10.”

—Marian Keyes

“The Accidental Favorite is an absolute knockout—ferociously observed, fantastically funny and deeply relatable. I could not stop reading this dark-edged, pacy, moving novel and was consumed with thoughts about the characters whenever it wasn’t in my hands. Sensationally good.”

—Rosie Walsh, author of The Love of My Life

“There’s to be no Difficult Second Album Syndrome for Fran Littlewood. The Accidental Favorite starts with a (literally) cracking premise, and gets messier and more mysterious from there. It is darkly funny, keenly observed, and full of poignant, vivid imagery.”

—Tim Minchin

“Fran Littlewood has that incredible ability to write minute family dynamics with such insane accuracy and wit that it feels like she’s been observing you and your family for years. It’s the incisive level of detail she holds that makes The Accidental Favorite such a brilliant read with a concept that is both relatable and hilariously messy. This is a novel that captures the big and little things about siblings and family life that create the beautiful and fractured thing we call family. You’ll want to pass this book onto your siblings and your parents, but be warned!!”

—Ore Agbaje-Williams, author of The Three of Us

“Fran writes like a wilder, more breathless Claire Lombardo. . . . A huge talent. Set over the course of a family reunion that goes very wrong, The Accidental Favorite is a layered, textured story about the reverberations of the past and secrets in a family, and a psychologically astute look at love and relationships. It’s wonderful and very funny. You’re in for such a treat. I

LOVED it.”

—Georgina Moore, author of The Garnett Girls

From the Publisher

04/25/2025

When the Fisher family gathers for matriarch Vivienne's 70th birthday at a house in the English countryside, they expect an elegant and civil celebration. What they get, however, is a near-accident, one in which the family's harmonious facade is shattered when Vivienne's husband, Patrick, shows favoritism for one of his daughters over the others. Worst yet, all the Fishers see it happen. Told from alternating perspectives of the adult Fisher sisters (Alex, Nancy, and Eva) and their mother and spanning 1976 to the present, the novel shows the family reckoning with tensions that have been simmering for years. Alex, Nancy, and Eva, along with their parents and a motley crew of their significant others and children, must at least appear to have a harmonious holiday week. As childhood rivalries resurface and decades of slights, comparisons, and unspoken grievances come spilling out, each sister must come to terms with her place in the family and the stories they've told themselves about love, fairness, and belonging. VERDICT A compelling drama about a dysfunctional family that will make readers laugh out loud and cringe all at once. While the side plots meander slightly, Littlewood's (Amazing Grace Adams) sharp characters and emotional depth beautifully capture the messy and complicated side of adults' relationships to their families of origin, quirks and all.—Erin Dagenais

Library Journal