Fran Littlewood’s sophomore novel The Accidental Favorite arrives with the weight of expectation following her New York Times bestselling debut Amazing Grace Adams. This latest offering delivers a masterfully crafted exploration of family dynamics that feels both intimately personal and universally resonant, though it occasionally struggles under the burden of its own ambitious narrative structure.
The premise is deceptively simple: three generations of the Fisher family gather at a striking glass house in the English countryside to celebrate matriarch Vivienne’s seventieth birthday. But when a seemingly minor accident reveals that patriarch Patrick has a favorite daughter, the carefully constructed family equilibrium shatters as dramatically as the glass walls that contain them.
Character Portraits: The Fisher Women
The Three Sisters: A Study in Birth Order Psychology
Littlewood demonstrates remarkable skill in crafting distinct voices for the three Fisher daughters, each embodying archetypal birth order characteristics while transcending simple stereotypes. Alex, the eldest, carries the burden of responsibility with a rigid perfectionism that masks deep insecurities about her abandoned musical ambitions. Her transformation from aspiring conservatory student to suburban teacher reflects the quiet compromises many make when dreams collide with reality.
Nancy, the middle child, emerges as perhaps the most complex character—a doctor whose medical expertise cannot heal her own emotional wounds. Her secret smoking habit and complicated relationship with fertility specialist Leon reveal layers of self-destructive behavior that Littlewood handles with surprising nuance. The author captures the particular isolation of middle children with an authenticity that feels lived-in rather than observed.
Eva, the youngest and possible favorite, grapples with the uncomfortable realization that her father’s preferential treatment may have shaped her entire identity. Her ultramarathon running serves as both literal and metaphorical escape, while her relationship with the questionable Scott adds contemporary relevance to age-old questions about women’s choices in love and career.
Vivienne: The Smoking Matriarch
Vivienne Fisher stands as one of Littlewood’s most compelling creations—a woman whose hidden cigarette habit becomes a metaphor for all the secrets families keep from each other. Her Christmas Eve encounter with John-Paul and the haunting question of Eva’s paternity adds psychological depth that elevates the novel beyond domestic dramedy. Littlewood captures the particular exhaustion of mothers who spend decades worrying about adult children with painful accuracy.
Narrative Structure: Ambitious but Uneven
Littlewood employs a complex time-shifting structure that weaves between the present-day glass house crisis and decades of family history. While this approach allows for rich character development and gradual revelation of family secrets, it sometimes feels overly intricate for the story being told.
The alternating perspectives across multiple timeframes create a kaleidoscopic effect that mirrors the fractured glass imagery throughout the novel. However, certain time jumps feel less organic than others, particularly the Christmas Eve 1982 sequences, which, while emotionally powerful, occasionally disrupt the narrative momentum.
The author demonstrates particular strength in her handling of small domestic moments—the way Nancy hides cigarettes from her niece, Alex’s compulsive cleaning in response to stress, Eva’s protein shake rituals. These details accumulate to create a convincing portrait of contemporary family life, complete with its awkwardnesses and unspoken tensions.
Themes: Memory, Truth, and the Stories We Tell Ourselves
The Mythology of Family Narratives
Littlewood explores how families construct mythologies about themselves—Vivienne and Patrick’s romanticized circus meeting story serves as a perfect example of how couples reshape their ordinary beginnings into something more spectacular. The contrast between this theatrical origin story and their daughters’ more mundane romantic histories illuminates the gap between parental expectations and children’s realities.
Secrets as Architecture
The glass house setting becomes a brilliant metaphor for transparency and concealment. While the family lives in a structure that appears to hide nothing, they are surrounded by decades of carefully maintained secrets. The physical shattering of the glass wall in the climax provides a visceral representation of how long-buried truths inevitably surface.
Parental Favoritism and Its Consequences
The novel’s exploration of parental favoritism feels particularly timely in an era of increased awareness about family dynamics and their psychological impacts. Littlewood avoids simple moral judgments, instead presenting the complex ways favoritism shapes both the favored and unfavored children. Eva’s discomfort with her possible preferred status feels as genuine as Alex and Nancy’s resentment.
Writing Style: Elegant Prose with Contemporary Edge
Littlewood’s prose demonstrates significant evolution from her debut. Her sentences have a lived-in quality that captures the rhythms of family conversation with remarkable fidelity. She has a particular gift for physical description—the way rain seeps through clothing, the texture of cigarette paper dissolving in moisture, the sticky sweetness of chocolate decorations pilfered from Christmas trees.
The author’s background as a journalist shows in her keen eye for telling details, though occasionally this leads to overwriting. Some passages, particularly those dealing with Eva’s ultramarathon training, feel overly detailed for their narrative function.
Contemporary Relevance: Modern Families in Crisis
The Accidental Favorite speaks directly to contemporary anxieties about family relationships in an era of increased geographical mobility and changing social structures. The multi-generational holiday gathering has become a loaded cultural event, freighted with expectations for connection that often exceed reality.
Littlewood’s treatment of technology and social media feels organic rather than forced—characters check phones and maintain complicated digital relationships without the author feeling compelled to comment on modern communication. This restraint serves the story well.
Critical Assessment: Strengths and Limitations
Notable Strengths
Character Differentiation: Each Fisher family member has a distinct voice and believable motivation
Atmospheric Writing: The English countryside setting feels authentic and lived-in
Emotional Honesty: The novel doesn’t shy away from uncomfortable family truths
Metaphorical Coherence: The glass house imagery works on multiple levels throughout the narrative
Areas for Improvement
Structural Complexity: The time-shifting narrative occasionally feels unnecessarily complicated
Pacing Issues: Some historical sequences slow the present-day momentum
Resolution: The ending, while emotionally satisfying, feels slightly rushed given the novel’s careful buildup
Literary Context: Domestic Fiction at Its Best
The Accidental Favorite belongs to the tradition of British domestic fiction exemplified by authors like Anne Enright, Rachel Cusk, and Zadie Smith. Like these writers, Littlewood finds profound meaning in the seemingly ordinary dynamics of family life.
The novel also echoes themes explored in recent works like My Education by Susan Choi and The Swimmers by Julie Otsuka, particularly in its examination of how family secrets shape individual identity across generations.
Verdict: A Worthy Follow-Up with Room for Growth
Despite its structural ambitions occasionally overwhelming its emotional core, The Accidental Favorite succeeds as a nuanced examination of family dynamics that will resonate with anyone who has navigated the complicated territory of adult sibling relationships.
Littlewood demonstrates genuine growth as a novelist, particularly in her ability to handle multiple perspectives without losing narrative coherence. While the novel doesn’t quite achieve the focused intensity of her debut, it establishes her as a significant voice in contemporary literary fiction.
The book’s exploration of how parents shape their children’s sense of self—often inadvertently—feels both timely and timeless. In an era when family therapy has entered mainstream discourse, Littlewood’s unflinching look at favoritism and its consequences offers valuable insights without resorting to pop psychology.
For Readers Who Enjoyed
Amazing Grace Adams by Fran Littlewood (obviously)
Actress by Anne Enright
The Nest by Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney
Tom Lake by Ann Patchett
The Mothers by Brit Bennett
Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng
The Accidental Favorite confirms Littlewood’s promise while pointing toward even greater achievements ahead. For readers seeking intelligent family drama with psychological depth, this novel delivers satisfaction despite its occasional structural fumbles.