The Admissions by Meg Mitchell Moore

It seems like a perfect family - three kids each one good at something, father and mother hard working a Californian lifestyle. Hidden agendas about in every family and the Hawthorne's are not exempt.

From the time Angela was a toddler it was affirmed and written in blood that she would get into Harvard. How, why and whether the mental, emotional and physical input necessary to achieve that goal was what Angela wanted was not taken into account. How it would affect her siblings and the balance in the family was also never taken into account.

The story revolves around her and the other two siblings, all caught in the rat race of trying to excel. In the midst of all this unraveling the father's past history is also slowly unraveling and it is rather unsavoury. To top it all mother has her own share of secrets and all this is told in a modern family saga, emotionally and satisfying to the reader.

All of us are guilty of some of the things detailed in the story and it is good to think over what we read and see whether there are lessons to be learnt!

Characterization was excellent and the story unraveled slowly but surely to its end.

The book was sent to me by Edelweiss.