The Fishers: a perfectly normal family. Until someone says the quiet part out loud.

Alex, Nancy, and Eva Fisher have spent their adult lives operating under a basic assumption: their parents love them all equally. Give or take the occasional eye-roll.

Then, at a family party — the kind with too many vol-au-vents and not enough emotional restraint — their father, Patrick, lets it slip that he has a favourite daughter.

Naturally, everyone pretends it’s fine. And then promptly unravels.

As old resentments bubble up and family myths begin to crumble, the sisters are forced to reconsider everything: their childhoods, their relationships, and whether bringing a bottle of wine counts as emotional support.

It’s a story of secrets, sibling rivalry, and the quiet horror of discovering your family isn’t quite what you thought — but then again, whose is?

The unique writing style takes some getting used to — timelines that jump all over the place, multiple points of view, and no traditional chapters make it feel, at times, like a stream of consciousness. Once you settle into the rhythm, though, it suits the story’s messy, chaotic family dynamic.

The Fishers are a gloriously imperfect bunch: loud, flawed, occasionally absurd, but often painfully relatable. The narrative swings between moments of emotional clarity — about sisterhood, motherhood, marriage, and the minefield of long-held family roles — and over-the-top antics that sometimes border on melodrama.

It kept me engaged, but I found myself wanting a bit more from the ending itself. Still, a smart, often sharp look at the mess and magic of family — especially when someone dares to pick a favourite.

Folks with sisters will enjoy this one!

Thanks Michael Joseph, Penguin Random House and NetGalley for the invite to read this ARC!

Synopsis -

Vivienne and Patick Fisher have raised their 3 daughters to the best of their abilities. Alex, Nancy and Eva are all doing very well for themselves and that’s everything they could hope for. When the Fishers gather at a glass house in the English countryside for a weeklong vacation and Vivienne’s 70th birthday celebration, an unexpected incident reveals Patrick might have a “favorite” daughter. This is just the kindle to the fire, which will rage and send shockwaves through this family as the week progresses, unearthing decades old secrets, resentments and fall outs triggering new ones in their destructive wake.

Review -

What anyone needs to be prepared for before picking up this book is that, the pacing is slow and patience will be key to truly savor it. This is not for the thrill seeking nor is it for those looking for a quick brain refreshing easy read.

Littlewood’s writing is deeply observational - there is a lot of attention to detail, to everything ranging from the characters, the settings, the general vibes and particulary the emotions. Sibling rivalry is at the very core of the story and the author explores sisters’ relationships - delving deep into the shift and shuffle of their dynamics over the years, playing out w.r.t their careers, family lives, their kids, mindset differences, age gap, financial status and social/societal standing.

Not a lot happens until about mid-way and just when I started to get jittery, tension escalates, dirty secrets are unveiled, chaos ensues in this glass house and you know what they say when you live in one! Don’t throw stones at it!

The ending did make up for the inertia, but overall the book fell just a bit short for me.

The Favourite is a beautifully written novel about family, parenthood, and rivalry - and the complicated and often messy feelings that come with being one of many siblings.

On a family weekend away, an almost-disaster reveals that Patrick may have a favourite daughter… what follows is a complex mix of feelings among all three daughters (Alex, Nancy, and Eva) as to whether this is true and how it reflects on their lives growing up. We go back in time to see memories from all three sisters, as well as their mother Vivienne and father Patrick. Through these memories we discover family secrets and learn that perhaps Vivienne and Patrick’s relationship wasn’t quite as perfect as their daughters thought...

I really enjoyed the changing of perspectives. It took me a while to get to grips with what sister was which, but before long I started to read their chapters as more distinct people. I loved the way the characters are so complex - no one is perfect and everyone has their own faults and challenges to deal with, especially when it comes to the complex areas of relationships and family life.
There were some heartbreaking moments and lighthearted parts to break up the drama. This is definitely a heavier book in its subject matter than I assumed from the cover, but this is no bad thing - I hugely enjoyed it.

Unfortunately this ended up being a DNF for me, as I struggled to get into it. I believe it's down to my personal opinions on books and have no doubt that others will love it, but it just wasn't for me.

The Favourite
by Fran Littlewood

A family holiday is nearly always the best time to notice the strain in family dynamics. The Fishers are such a tight group. The sisters, Alex, Nancy and Eva long for the loving marriage their parents Vivienne and Patrick have. The siblings love each other fiercely, but running quietly underneath, each has a buried set of resentments towards the others. The first chapter ends with Patrick doing the unthinkable; he reveals unambiguously, which daughter is his favourite.

Littlewood digs deep into how placement within the family sets siblings up on the pathway to rivalry, comparison, jealously and rancour. How these relationships and dynamics are alerted and compounded with the addition of partners and children.

As the fallout from the gaffe is exacerbated by the house itself (lack of privacy, disturbing smell), an unwelcome visitor and a series of small accidents, the carefully papered over cracks are starting to reveal themselves and it becomes apparent that nothing is a it seems.

I love this story, and love anything that explores sibling rivalry, particularly sisters. As the eldest of 3 sisters I found much to relate to here. Reading this I found myself thinking "no wonder!" many times.

I would love to give this 5 stars for all the food for thought it provides, but the pacing was difficult for me to reconcile. A banger of an opening, followed by a plodding 40+%, but what a finish. I'm glad I didn't DNF.

Thanks to #Netgalley and #MichaelJoseph for providing an ARC or review purposes

When an incident on a family holiday threatens to drive a wedge between the Fisher sisters: Alex, Nancy and Eva are all suddenly wondering who’s their father’s favourite. Cooped up together and unable to escape each other, the family clash, and it seems that everyone has a secret that is threatening to spill out.

The Favourite is an emotional family drama worthy of a soap opera. The book explores the characters and relationships of each of the sisters and their parents. The story follows present day narratives from the sisters and their mother Vivienne, spliced with past scenes which gives the characters depth and perspective. I enjoyed the plot progression and learning about the characters. Although, I struggled with the character dynamics and found some moments a bit over dramatic. I think this book would appeal to readers who love a family drama and complex character dynamics.

thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an e-arc in exchange for an honest review! <3

’Life is a long line all planned out. You don’t want to waste it’

The Accidental Favourite or The Favourite (the name appears to be different depending on what sites / physical form of the book you see it on) is a pretty standard contemporary following three sisters - Alex, Nancy and Eva - and their families on a holiday in celebration of their Mums 70th birthday. Each sister is hiding their own insecurities and secrets which begin to come to light in the wake of their Dad seemingly choosing a favourite child.

While this wasn’t a badly written book, nor one with an uninteresting premise, it didn’t quite work for me. I don’t see this as a fault of the book, as it had an easily accessible prose and effective dialogue, but rather I just wasn’t quite captivated by the story or the characters. While I liked Alex, Nancy and Eva (particularly Nancy), I wasn’t overly attached to their personalities or personal secrets, which in my opinion turned out to be quite lacklustre. The plot was fine, but I thought it took quite a while for anything to move along, and the pacing was a little stilted at times. It was very much a situation of everything happening at the beginning and the end, but not so much in the middle. This made me frustrated and even bored at times.

However, I really enjoyed the themes presented in the story - how parents shape their children’s confidence, self-esteem and self-worth, and often breed competitiveness and jealously between siblings. As someone who has been at the receiving end of some pretty harsh comparisons between themselves and their siblings by a parent, I certainly related to and got a lot out of how Alex, Nancy and Eva’s insecurities were presented. It felt brutally realistic at times.

Overall, The Accidental Favourite / The Favourite gets 3/5 stars.

This novel captures all the complexities of sibling love and sibling rivalry, particularly during the teenage years.
The age old question arises - do parents have a favourite child?
Alex, Nancy and Eva are at their mother's 70th birthday party, where all the family are gathered. An incident occurs and the sisters begin to question whether their father has a favourite daughter.
The author uses childhood flashbacks to draw out each sister's character.
Plenty of dramas, plenty of falling out amongst the sisters, yet the bond is always there.
A great read.

I loved Amazing Grace Adams, so I was so excited for this one. It definitely had Fran's amazing writing style and humour throughout, just like her first book.

I have to admit I was a little confused at times with this one, there is a wide array of characters and at first I struggled to remember all the family dynamics, but I definitely got more into it the more I read.

It had a lot of side stories that all fit together very nicely, woken into this story. I love a character driven story, and this one was very much that. It flicked between the perspectives of all three sisters and their mum, and each brought their own emotions to the story. I found myself feeling real emotions reading this, happiness, anger, and sadness, and that is definitely a testament to Fran's writing.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC of this book out 12th June!

Funny, reflective and emotional story about three sisters forced to face old memories when their dad makes it obvious who the favourite child is!

Told over one holiday together, I enjoyed the multiple perspectives and it really gets you thinking, who is the favourite sibling in your family?

I’m not sure what I feel about this book. The story begins with a multi generational family holiday in a glass house somewhere in the depths of a forest in northern England. A tree falls just as Dad is taking a photograph of his three grown up daughters and he bypasses the two older ones to save the youngest. Luckily the tree’s fall is impeded by another tree so all survive but the family dynamics are ripped open. Over the course of the week there are chapters from different povs and flashbacks to when the girls were younger. They all lived together but have such different perspectives on their history. All the adults are hiding something: Alex is obsessed with her first boyfriend despite having just had her third child with her pretty inept husband; Nancy the middle child has been suspended from her job as a cancer doctor and hasn’t told her family and Eva the youngest has secretly married her numpty of a partner which she immediately realises is a massive mistake. The parents also are hiding things which gradually get revealed in the flashbacks. I struggled with the characters in the first part of the book and found some of the writing too verbose and then in other parts I was frustrated by allusions rather than explanations. Overall I liked the book but recommend it is read in as few sittings as possible otherwise there could be a tendency to lose the threads.

For Vivienne’s seventieth birthday, she celebrates with a trip away with her husband, Patrick, their three daughters, Alex, Nancy and Eva, and their grandchildren.

When Patrick inadvertently admits that he has a favourite daughter, you can imagine the problems that this causes.

It is an interesting story with sibling rivalry at the heart of it, and there were a lot of characters to try and remember who was who.

I did find the story slow at times, but overall I enjoyed it.

My thanks to Michael Joseph, Penguin Random House for a copy in exchange for my honest review.

Fran is a relatively new author to me but I loved her previous book and also this new one. Wonderful narratives and descriptions. Highly recommend.

So entertaining - especially if you have siblings!

Vivienne and Patrick have three grown-up daughters, all happy knowing they are loved - equally, or so they thought. Then, during a family party it becomes clear that Patrick has a favourite. While it is glossed over at the time, there is no doubt that is the moment when things begin to unravel - can the family come back from this?

As someone with two sisters, this had me hooked from the beginning. As a parent, I was quietly appalled - but it didn't stop me from giggling! I've read this author's work before and would recommend any of her books: well-written and always interesting. I think this one is her best yet and have absolutely no hesitation in recommending it as well as giving it all five stars.

My thanks to the publisher for my copy via NetGalley.

This is a clever intergenerational novel about a family who meet up for a family party only for one small incident to blow their tightly knit group apart.
Fran Littlewood writes very well about women who have hit a point in their lives where they don’t know where to go and might just do something very stupid.
Eva had married an awful man in secret, Alex has had a baby just when she thought her baby rearing days were done and Nancy has an issue at work that she’s hiding from everyone. As the family falls apart they all might well do something they regret.
This is quite a complex novel with a large cast of characters and a lot of plot strands. Sometimes it all gets a bit much and some scenes don’t seem to add much to the overall story. It is a clever and original story and largely enjoyable, just not something to read too quickly.

It was an enjoyable read, although I much preferred her previous book. My thanks to the publisher for the copy.

The Fisher family are an unhappy bunch which makes for a tiresome read. The jumping from character to character is peppered with a time hop too which makes for a disjointed read. Thank you to Michael Joseph, Penguin Random House + NetGalley for the ARC!

I felt that the story was lost in between the constant moving between characters and timelines. It felt somewhat disjointed.

My thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book.

I enjoyed The Favourite. It is based on three sisters and their families while they are on a week away. An almost event turns everyone's thoughts and memories into doubts.

Alex, Nancy and Eva Fisher. Three grown-up sisters; each wonderful and imperfect in their own individual ways. And loved equally by their parents, Vivienne and Patrick.
Or so they thought.

When a near-disaster strikes during a family gathering, Patrick inadvertently reveals that he has a favourite daughter. And while they try to gloss over it, this almost-accident begins the unravelling of everything the sisters thought they knew. As their past is re-examined, secrets and lies are uncovered, and, slowly, the close-knit Fisher clan starts to implode in a way they could never have dreamed possible.

This is Fran Littlewood's second novel, following her brilliantly realised debut, Amazing Grace Adams, which I loved, so I came to it with great anticipation and excitement.

Set over a single week’s holiday, scenes from the present are interspersed with events from the past, and the POV shifts constantly between the sisters and their mother.

This is a novel is driven by family dynamics and tensions - the usual family micro-aggressions that characterise family life are overlayed with something way beyond what's customary and normal, and there's clearly some important things festering beneath the surface here. As Leo Tolstoy famously wrote: "All happy families are alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way."

The "show-everything" glass house that is the Fisher family holiday let, and the unpleasant smell within it that develops and increases over the week of their stay, serves as a metaphor for what is happening to them on this holiday. Their father's apparent highlighting of his favourite daughter during a moment of danger at an outdoor naming ceremony, proves to be a catalyst for this family, and what has been ignored and brushed under the carpet for years can, and will, no longer be hidden.

Baggage from the past that continues to impact the present, has to be acknowledged and confronted, as relationships deteriorate and unravel, but there there's a great deal more in play too: relationship issues between the parents and their children; between spouses and partners; different parenting styles between and within the generations; different memories and perspectives of the same life events that make up the tapestry of this family's history; and there's the complex dynamic between the three sisters, which is almost love and hate in nature.

Arguments, resentments, rivalries, blame, annoyances and irritations run side by side with fierce loyalties, deep friendship, and the strongest of alliances, with the wagon train quickly circling under external attack, with the sisters becoming completely protective of each other.

This is a story exploring themes of memory and identity, lies and secrets and, above all, love. It's sharply, and brilliantly observed, completely character-driven, and Fran Littlewood perfectly blends sadness and humour as events unfold and truths emerge.

Initially, it's a bit of a slow burn, and at first it feels slightly overwhelming, because you have to get each member of the family straight, remember whose partner/child is whose, and deal with the shifting POVs and time frames. But then, once you're on top of it - helped enormously by a family tree at the front - it draws you in and becomes completely enthralling. I was totally hooked.

You get to know the three sisters so well, and they are brilliantly realised. Initially the characters of the parents are slightly more shadowy and sketchy, but as past truths and events come into focus so too do their characters.

For lovers of character focused fiction, it's a triumph of a novel, with so much to think about, and it culminates in a fitting, and satisfying conclusion. I'm happy to report that I was not at all disappointed with Fran Littlewood's second novel, and my excitement and anticipation were justified, and rewarded!

Thank you to Michael Joseph for my AD-GIFTED ARC, in exchange for an independent and unbiased review.