The Irish Goodbye by Heather Aimee O’Neill came to me from an Instagram list shared by a friend. The list was for family stories and was described thus “The best family novels aren’t really about family at all. They’re about identity and memory. The stories we inherit and the ones we spend years trying to rewrite. These books capture it all: the tenderness, the tension, the secrets, the things left unsaid, and the complicated love that somehow always survives.” (thereaderista) Compelling perspective, no?! Amazon: “It’s been years since the three Ryan sisters were all together at their beloved family home. Two decades ago, their lives were upended by a fatal accident on their brother Topher’s boat. Now the Ryan women are back and eager to reconnect, but each carries a heavy secret. The eldest, Cait, still holding guilt for the role no one knows she played in the boat accident, rekindles a flame with her high school crush. Middle sister Alice has been thrown a curveball that threatens the career she’s restarting and faces a difficult decision that may doom her marriage. And the youngest, Maggie, is finally taking the risk of bringing the woman she loves home to meet her devoutly Catholic mother. When Cait invites a guest from their shared past to dinner, old tensions boil over and new truths surface, nearly overpowering the flickering light of their family bond. Far more than a family reunion will be ruined unless the sisters can find a way to forgive one another―and themselves.” This was a good family story and a good beach read even though it takes place in winter.