Ginger Strand describes her first novel, Flight, as “the echoes and overlaps of four voices.” Meet the Gruens, the four voices in question, a Midwestern family in the midst of private dramas. Father Will, an aging airline pilot, is reluctant to retire and troubled by memories of Vietnam. Mother Carol, long-sufferer of Will’s whims, is intent on opening her very own “country-themed” bed-and-breakfast despite her disdain for things rustic. Elder daughter Margaret, a history professor, is entangled in an “open marriage.” And younger daughter Leanne, bride-to-be and owner of a “high-end craft store,” is a recovering alcoholic.

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—Lara Tupper