Almost Family - by Ann Bancroft (Paperback)

About the Book

When Liz Millanova meets two unlikely friends in a support group for stage four cancer patients, they ditch the group and form their own, aiming to enjoy life while they can. In the process, they help one another reach acceptance, resolve family issues, and find love and peace at the end of their lives.

Book Synopsis

Liz Millanova has stage four cancer, a grown daughter who doesn't speak to her, and obsessive memories of a relationship that tore apart her marriage. She thinks of herself as someone who'd rather die than sit through a support group, but now that she actually is going to die, she figures she might as well give it a go.

Mercy's Thriving Survivors is a hospital-sponsored group held in a presumably less depressing location: a Nordstrom's employee training lounge. There, Liz hits it off with two other patients, and the three unlikely friends decide to ditch the group and meet on their own. They call themselves the Oakland Mets, and their goal is to enjoy life while they can. Together, Dave, a gay Vietnam vet, Rhonda, a devout, nice woman who's hiding a family secret and finds peace in a gospel choir, and snarky Liz plan outings to hear jazz, enjoy nature, and tour Alcatraz. In the odd intimacy they form, Liz learns to open up and get close, acknowledge and let go of the dysfunction in her marriage, and repair her relationship with her daughter. They joined forces to have a good time--but what they wind up doing is helping one another come to grips with terminal cancer and resolve the unfinished business in their lives.

Review Quotes

"Almost Family by Ann Bancroft is most certainly a literary masterpiece. . . . There was so much to be felt, learned, experienced, and savored in this narrative. . . . Each character was beautifully, intelligently portrayed and intensely believable."
--Readers' Favorite, 5-star review

"It's a story that follows a remarkable trajectory from loneliness and heartbreak to lasting love. An often-resonant narrative of adversity and friendship."
--Kirkus Reviews

"Almost Family is a book that comes right at the hard stuff with a whole lot of truth and even more humor. Ann Bancroft writes a beautiful story about love and the power of friendship to heal what the doctors can't."
--Jodi Angel, author of You Only Get Letters from Jail and Biggest Little Girl

"I found Ann Bancroft's bracingly honest novel about three ordinary people wrestling with the end of life impossible to put down. Who would have guessed that dancing on the edge could be so much fun?"
--Hugh Delehanty, coauthor with Phil Jackson of the #1 New York Times bestseller Eleven Rings