Tracey Lange's We Are the Brennans is an utterly riveting debut novel of family ties, secrets and the depths of love. Beware the unintended single-sitting read: this magnetic story has the power to draw its reader from cover to cover in one gulp.

The Brennans are an extremely tight-knit Irish American family living in West Manor, N.Y., just north of Manhattan and "leaning upper middle class." Mickey Brennan is now widowed, but the memory of his wife, Maura, casts a shadow. They have four children. The eldest, Denny, has a large frame and a large personality. He is half owner of a pub called Brennan's (or Ó'Braonáin's, in the Gaelic), begun on a loan from Mickey and Maura and very much the family business. Next in age is Sunday, the only child to have left the neighborhood, much to the family's chagrin. Jackie is her Irish twin, at just 14 months younger: recently in trouble with the law, he's moved back home to save money and help out. Shane is the youngest, genial and developmentally disabled, around whom all the Brennans rally. And then there is Kale: Denny's business partner, a neighbor since childhood, an honorary Brennan--and Sunday's former fiancé. Aunts and cousins cycle through as well; the charismatic Brennans have a large, comfortable household with a strong center of gravity.

As exceptionally close as they are, the Brennans also specialize in secrets. Denny has not been honest with his wife or Kale about the pub's poor financial situation. Jackie is the only one who knows why Sunday really left town.

Chapters alternate perspective among these characters, chiefly the four siblings but also the other Brennans and Brennan-adjacents. There is an argument to be made for Sunday as main character; she was the glue that held this clan together, and it is her homecoming that sets the novel's events in motion. But the book's title points toward the family unit as central; their inextricability is compelling, unique and apparently infallible. Each chapter ends with a line of dialogue that also opens the next chapter, but from a different point of view, which contributes to the momentum that will keep you up all night to finish this book in one go. The effect is nearly cinematic, as if the camera shifts to show the same scene from another angle. This technique also highlights the impact of a deeply bonded family insisting on keeping secrets.

The Brennans are captivating, even hypnotic, for readers as well as for those who enter their orbit in the world of West Manor. In her debut novel, Lange shows a sure hand with characters both flawed and complex: Jackie loves bartending and is a talented painter, although only Sunday supports his art. Kale's devotion is complete, even when he's had to navigate the relationship of his best friend (Denny) and his childhood sweetheart (Sunday). Kale's wife is challenging, but nuanced. Denny's daughter Molly is sweet and spirited: she embraces her new Aunt Sunday wholly (after sitting her down for a serious talk about the preexisting plan for her to inherit Sunday's room when Molly turns five). These damaged, fierce, loyal Brennans and their intricate problems will capture readers' hearts entirely and not let go. Their story has everything: intrigue, crime, heartbreak, therapeutic awakenings and a romance that feels both impossible and inevitable. --Julia Kastner

(photo: Natalie Stephenson)

Born in the Bronx and raised in Manhattan, Tracey Lange comes from a large Irish family. She graduated from the University of New Mexico, then, with her husband, owned and operated a behavioral healthcare company. Lange lives in Bend, Ore., with her husband, two sons and their German shepherd. Her captivating debut novel, We Are the Brennans, will be published by Celadon Books on August 3, 2021.

Did this family come to you whole, or did it begin with Sunday?

It started with Sunday, really, and with the idea of someone coming back into the family fold after being gone for years. And then all the questions started, like, why did she leave? What's going on? Why'd she come back? And it just went from there. I pictured a big-ish family; but she was the one I started with.

Or, really, it started with the situation. I wasn't even sure if this would be a male or a female character at first, it was just the idea of someone coming back into the family. And then the more I sat on it, it just started to present itself. It's the situation I landed on first.

Is Sunday your favorite, or the one you feel closest to?

That's a tough one! I suppose I relate a lot to her in some ways, but I also relate to Denny, I love Kale, I love Jackie! Jackie was fun. I would have liked to actually spend more time with him. It's hard to say, but I guess when I think of who I relate to the most, it would be Sunday.

What do you feel makes the Brennans so compelling?

It's just that idea of family and what it means to them. That's what fascinated me. Because every family works so differently, and it gets passed down through generations, and it changes as it goes. Part of that is my own experience: I have a huge family, and a lot of them are in Ireland--they're spread out, really, but we try to stay in touch. And we've got our messes and dysfunction, too, but at the end of the day I feel like I could knock on any of those doors and be welcome, or if they needed something, I'd do anything I could to help. There's just this loyalty that I see with the Brennans, which is why they're able to work through this stuff and ultimately forgive each other and come together. It just starts with family and what it means to them.

There's a real sense of magnetism in this family center, an alchemy.

That's what I was going for. My dad was one of 15--he has this huge family in Ireland, and that's how I felt whenever I'd spend time there. They were just such a special clan unto themselves, and it was very cool to be part of that and around it. I'm sure that helped influence what I was going for here.

Is West Manor based on a place you know?

In terms of location and size and the flavor of the place, it's largely based on Briarcliff Manor in Westchester. But I felt like I needed to change it up a little bit. I couldn't call it Briarcliff Manor. That's where I pictured it; it's loosely based there. I grew up mostly in the city, but I spent a lot of time in Westchester, Long Island, that whole part of New York, and I felt like I had a good feel for that kind of town and that environment, and who would be attracted to living there and what they would be looking for. I didn't grow up in that town, it was more the city for me, but I had a sense of that place.

Influences have come in from my family members. Mickey's history is a lot of my dad's history, coming in from Ireland and working in construction, but my dad was not a member of the IRA or anything like that.

How do you manage the task of switching between points of view? Is that an organizational challenge, or one of voice?

I worried a little bit about distinguishing between each voice, because it was a lot. And of course I got a lot of warnings, you know, oh, that's a lot of points of view, it could be distracting or throw people off. But for this story it helped me put it together. It gave me a structure. Moving immediately to that next point of view was helpful. Sunday's the protagonist, but it's about this family, and they all have secrets. And this was a great way to get in on those secrets without the other characters knowing. So at least in this story, it felt like that worked, because it is so much about the dynamics between all these people.

It might have been Hemingway who is credited with saying you should stop writing each day right before you want to, so you know where to start when you pick back up…

That's a good idea. I should do that more. Then I wouldn't procrastinate when it came time to sit back down.

What are you working on next? Will we get to check back in on the Brennans?

I'm not closed off to that idea. I've thought a little bit about where they might go, but I haven't started that project. I do love visiting them--whenever I have to make another pass with the book it's so fun to get in there with them again.

I'm well into my next project now, which is another messy family drama, but quite different in terms of what they're dealing with and the dynamics. That's what fascinates me, what I read a lot of and what I love to write about, is family dramas.

You'll never run out of material!

Yeah. No kidding. --Julia Kastner