A woman must return to her hometown of Santa Cruz, CA to inherit her family home after her mother dies, and is reunited with her estranged brother and sister, whom she was responsible for sending to prison 15 years earlier. An upmarket, darkly funny family saga.
A VERY TYPICAL FAMILY
by Sierra Godfrey
Sourcebooks Landmark, February 2022
Natalie Walker is the reason her brother and sister went to jail over 15 years ago. As a result, she hasn’t spoken to her family since. On the same day she expects to be promoted at her job (until her boyfriend Paul swoops in and takes the position), Natalie receives a letter from a lawyer in Santa Cruz saying her mother has died and the only way for her children to inherit their family’s large, historical home is for all three adult children to come back and claim it.
Natalie drives to Santa Cruz, expecting to sign some documents, see siblings Lynn and Jake, and get back to her life in Boston. But Jake, now an award-winning scientist, is missing. And Lynn, working as an undertaker in NYC, shows up with her teenaged son. While Natalie and her nephew look for Jake—meeting a very handsome Spanish scientist in the process—Natalie takes stock of her life and the guilt she has held dear for so many years. Though no one can change the past, every day is an opportunity to change how you want to live in the future.
Sierra Godfrey is a tech editor by day who loves writing stories about complex relationships. She lives in the foggy wastelands of the San Francisco Bay Area with her husband, sons, and a bevy of animals, all of which seemed like a good idea at the time.
Every Tuesday and Thursday morning, 32-year old musician Natalie Fincher plays at a busy London train station piano. Since the death of her husband two years ago, it’s the only time she forgets how lonely she is, and the only place she feels comfortable playing music anymore – where she’s anonymous, and nobody’s really listening. Then sheet music starts being left anonymously in the lid of the piano stool – specific songs she played only for her husband when he was sick. Is someone up there looking down on her? Or has someone down here been listening all along? Natalie is about to find out… 
High school junior Gigi Wong strives to be the best: the top student, the perfect friend, and the ideal daughter. But it’s tough when there’s always someone who is just a little bit better. With college applications looming, she can’t help but worry that she won’t make the cut. Thankfully, her best friend Kyle never fails to find the right words—and the perfect bowl of ramen—to cheer her up.
Santi has only had his heart broken one time, and it was all his fault. When he accidentally leaked his internet best friend Memo’s song, and it became an overnight hit, Memo disappeared—leaving their song’s cult fame, and Santi, behind.
Ellie Kobata has spent most of high school on the sidelines, keeping her art Instagram private and shying away from the world. She can’t even tell her only friend, Lia, who she really is: Ellie is part of a secret magical community, and no one outside of it can know it exists. The only person Ellie could fully relate to was Jack Yasuda – her childhood friend who mysteriously started to snub her a few years ago.