Fault Lines

Merritt Fowler is a natural caretaker who has spent most of her life attending to the emotional needs of those closest to her: her beautiful, erratic younger sister, Laura; her self-sacrificing physician husband, Pom; and now Pom's destructive, Alzheimer's-afflicted mother. Exhausted and confused by the burdens she's taken on, Merritt faces a new crisis when a fierce family quarrel makes her fragile sixteen-year-old daughter, Glynn, flee their Atlanta home to seek sanctuary in California with Aunt Laura, a Hollywood actress whose career is in decline. Following Glynn west and deciding to stay there—against her irate husband's wishes—Merritt hopes to heal the ever-widening fissures between mother and daughter, sister and sister. And on an impulsive trip up the coast into the Santa Cruz Mountains—earthquake country—the three women will have to confront their separate demons in order to save and change their lives.

Deeply moving and masterfully imagined, Siddons presents readers with a novel that gets to the heart of the confusing power of love and family in Fault Lines. Merritt Fowler is a natural caregiver, but after years of giving, she no longer knows who she is or what is important to her. Setting out on a wild adventure to the Santa Cruz mountains, Merritt searches for the bedrock of strength and courage that can save her.

Years of caring for her needy family have left Merritt Fowler exhausted and confused, uncertain of who she is or what she wants. When a family argument sends her lovely, fragile daughter, Glynn, running from her Atlanta home to her Aunt Laura in Hollywood, Merritt is compelled to follow.

On impulse, the trio takes off in Laura's red Mustang convertible, barreling up the coast to the lush wilderness outside San Francisco — earthquake country. There, amid the beauty and protection of the mountains, mother, daughter, and sister will struggle to see if the widening fissures between them can be healed, as they search for the bedrock of strength and courage that can save them and their family.

Anne Rivers Siddons' books are firmly rooted in the culture of the modern South, but ultimately fans love her books because they portray -- with compassion and truth -- women who transcend the difficulties of love, friendship and growing up.