Baby of the Family: A Novel
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Baby of the Family: A Novel Audible Audiobook – Unabridged

Maura Roosevelt (Author), Saskia Maarleveld (Narrator), Penguin Audio (Publisher)
3.3 3.3 out of 5 stars 67 ratings
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A wry and addictive debut about a modern-day American dynasty and its unexpected upheaval when the patriarch wills his dwindling fortune to his youngest, adopted son - setting off a chain of events that unearths family secrets and tests long-held definitions of love and family.

The money is old, the problems are new.

Meet the Whitbys: an American dynasty once inundated with ungodly real estate wealth and now facing a new millennium of unfamiliar obstacles.

There was a time when the death of a Whitby would have made national news, but when the family patriarch, Roger, dies, he is alone. Word of his death travels from the long-suffering family lawyer to Roger’s clan of children (from four different marriages), and the outlook isn’t good. Roger has left everything to his 21-year-old son Nick, a Whitby only in name - and Nick is nowhere to be found.

Brooke, an older daughter who is both overwhelmingly nostalgic and unexpectedly pregnant, leads the search for Nick, hoping to convince him to let her keep her Boston home. Shelley, the only child from the third marriage, hasn’t told anyone that she’s dropped out of college just months before graduation and is currently working as an amanuensis for a blind architect, with whom she crosses complicated boundaries. And when Nick, on the run from the law after a misguided act of political activism, finally appears at Shelley’s New York home, worlds collide and explode in spectacular fashion.

Soon, the three siblings are faced with the question they have been running from their whole lives: What do they want their future to look like, if they can finally escape their past?

Weaving together multiple perspectives to create a portrait of the American dream gone awry, Baby of the Family is a vivid, absorbing debut about family secrets and how they define us, bind us together, and threaten to blow us apart.

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  1. Listening Length
    16 hours and 51 minutes
  2. Author
    Maura Roosevelt
  3. Narrator
    Saskia Maarleveld
  4. Audible release date
    March 5, 2019
  5. Language
    English
  6. Publisher
    Penguin Audio
  7. ASIN
    B07NWX43JC
  8. Version
    Unabridged
  9. Program Type
    Audiobook
  10. See all details
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Product details

Listening Length 16 hours and 51 minutes
Author Maura Roosevelt
Narrator Saskia Maarleveld
Whispersync for Voice Ready
Audible.com Release Date March 05, 2019
Publisher Penguin Audio
Program Type Audiobook
Version Unabridged
Language English
ASIN B07NWX43JC
Best Sellers Rank #419,139 in Audible Books & Originals (See Top 100 in Audible Books & Originals)
#7,180 in Family Life Fiction (Audible Books & Originals)
#13,223 in Women's Fiction (Audible Books & Originals)
#15,243 in Literary Fiction (Audible Books & Originals)

Customer reviews

3.3 out of 5 stars
3.3 out of 5
67 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

I read too much
3.0 out of 5 stars I really wanted to love this book
Reviewed in the United States on April 16, 2019
Verified Purchase
I bought this book for a lot of reasons. I adore society and old money and decadence and dysfunction. I was also recommended it highly by an author that I LOVE, which was how I found out about it, and came to purchase it.
It's really well written. The story is engaging...for about 150 pages. Then I felt like there was nothing really keeping me sloshing through. The characters are interesting enough. Maybe there are just too many of them to care what really happens to all of them. Or...any of them...
Also, this is probably just a pet peeve of mine, but I hate when in fiction people drop names like Astor or Vanderbilt (both of them are used in this book). Be creative! Make up names that elude to Astor or Vanderbilt without using them. It's not just cliche it's tacky. Also the author references places like the family house "Idlehour", which in fact was a real house that belonged to a different old money family. It's not hard to invent another name for a house without using a real one. This is fiction.
I kept reading. Hundreds of pages in, and then gave it up. I didn't care anymore because to me the question was never really asked. What was I reading this whole book for? What was the point? What were these characters supposed to be engaging me in? There wasn't even any good examples of using up old money on parties or luxurious items that you only learn about from reading books like this.
I got about 3/4 the way threw and through in the towel. I just had no idea what the point of continuing was. There was no there there. There was no question to be answered. No driving point to keep reading.
It meandered around and introduced a ton of characters none of which were quite interesting or more importantly original.
The author writes very well, and I would look for another book from her in the future, but this one just didn't do it for me. FOR ME is the main part of a review. I can totally see why for others this book would be interesting.
9 people found this helpful
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Ilan Richter
5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful, deep and thought provoking
Reviewed in the United States on December 28, 2019
Verified Purchase
A story about histories, families, growing up and coming to terms with everything that’s made you - you. Well worth your time.
One person found this helpful
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Jodi_G
4.0 out of 5 stars The legacy of an unreliable father
Reviewed in the United States on March 7, 2019
Baby of the Family is a novel about the once influential Whitby family.

Roger Whitby, the four times married family patriarch, has died after squandering a majority of his wealth. He’s left what remains of his estate to his youngest (adopted) son, Nick, the son of his fourth wife. Nick is a young man who has been struggling to find a purpose in his life. As his father is dying, Nick becomes involved in an act of political activism, and then goes missing.

Brooke, Roger’s daughter from his second marriage, is dealing with her own issues. She’s pregnant by a man she doesn’t love, afraid to admit to the love she has for Allie, and her house—the one thing she has from her dad—has just become part of Nick’s inheritance. Brooke doesn’t even really know Nick and has no idea if she’ll be forced out of the house. She’s barely able to get by on her nursing job, and the thought of having to add rent or a mortgage to her financial plan—in addition to the cost of having a baby—has left her unsure of the right decisions.

Roger’s daughter Shelley is living with her mother in the New York apartment Roger walked out of years ago. Her mom has left after descending into a years-long cycle of depression. Desperate for income, Shelley takes a job with a very peculiar man, and ends up in a complex relationship with him.

Told from the point of view of these three Whitby children, each abandoned and let down by their father, it explores the complex relationships between children and their parents. It’s really about finding and being yourself, despite your familial relations.

It was hard to identify with the characters (for obvious reasons—the lack of my own family fortune), but they were interesting enough to keep me reading. Baby of the Family wasn’t a novel that drew me in and kept me on the edge of my seat, but I was passively interested enough to continue reading to find out what happens to each of the characters.
I received an ARC of Baby of the Family from Netgalley and Dutton Books in exchange for an honest review
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J. Jamison
1.0 out of 5 stars Too long, boring.
Reviewed in the United States on April 17, 2019
Verified Purchase
Couldn't get into it. Wish I had my money back.
7 people found this helpful
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Mary T.
2.0 out of 5 stars I didn't finish this book.
Reviewed in the United States on December 14, 2019
I didn't finish this book. There was nothing special about the writing. I didn't feel a connection to any of the many characters and, in fact, could not keep them straight. Maybe I just wasn't in the right mood.
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dalmom
3.0 out of 5 stars Meh
Reviewed in the United States on January 15, 2020
Verified Purchase
The plots just seemed to go nowhere significant. The family history was mildly interesting. I got it for 1.99, so can’t complain too much!
One person found this helpful
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Linda L-S
5.0 out of 5 stars Cinematic
Reviewed in the United States on April 10, 2019
Verified Purchase
Gripping novel from first time author documents the fall of a dynasty and humanizes its many characters. A page turner
3 people found this helpful
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