No Family Is Perfect: A Guide to Embracing the Messy Reality

A fascinating examination of the messy and beautiful reality of family life and how, if we embrace it, we can improve our relationships and maybe even enjoy Christmas. What makes a good parent? Can sibling relationships survive to adulthood? Should love within a family really be unconditional? Wherever, whenever and however you learnt about family, it's likely that you have unshakeable answers to these questions. In this revelatory new book, family researcher Lucy Blake shows that, whatever your assumptions are, they are almost certainly wrong and probably doing damage to your closest relationships. Blake looks at how the expectations we have affect and even hinder our interactions with parents, siblings, relatives and our children. Drawing on her experience of interviewing hundreds of family members – of all backgrounds – she explores these unrealistic ideas, exposes the truth of what a family really is and explains how we can better understand and appreciate the one we have. No Family Is Perfect is a fascinating examination of the messy and beautiful reality of family life, and a look at how we can change our beliefs about family for the better and maybe even enjoy Christmas. 'Provides a fresh context for exploring issues that engage us throughout our lives ... No Family is Perfect will change how we think and write about families' Terri Apter, author of Difficult Mothers and The Sister Knot