Fran Littlewood’s sophomore novel, The Accidental Favorite, arrives with the weight of expectation following her breakout success with Amazing Grace Adams. This new offering delivers a searing examination of family dynamics wrapped in the deceptively elegant setting of a glass house holiday rental. What begins as a celebratory week for Vivienne Fisher’s seventieth birthday transforms into an unflinching dissection of decades-old wounds and carefully guarded secrets.
The premise is devastatingly simple: when a freak accident on the first day of a family gathering inadvertently reveals Patrick Fisher’s instinctive favoritism toward his youngest daughter Eva, three generations of carefully maintained equilibrium come crashing down. Littlewood uses this moment of revelation as a scalpel to cut through the polite veneer of a seemingly successful family, exposing the raw nerves beneath.
Plot and Structure: A Fractured Family Portrait
Littlewood employs a sophisticated dual-timeline structure that weaves between the present-day glass house crisis and pivotal moments from the family’s past. The narrative unfolds through multiple perspectives, primarily focusing on the three Fisher daughters: Alex, the responsible eldest; Nancy, the troubled middle child; and Eva, the accomplished youngest who may or may not be their father’s favorite.
The central incident—Patrick’s instinctive protection of Eva when a dead tree falls—serves as the catalyst for everything that follows. This moment of unconscious preference unravels decades of family mythology and forces each character to confront uncomfortable truths about their relationships and roles within the family hierarchy.
The author demonstrates remarkable skill in managing the complex chronology, jumping between different time periods and perspectives without losing narrative momentum. Each flashback illuminates present tensions while building toward revelations that recontextualize everything we thought we knew about the Fishers.
Character Development: Flawed and Authentic
The Fisher Women
Alex, the eldest daughter, emerges as perhaps the most compelling character—a woman whose outward competence masks deep insecurities about her place in the family constellation. Littlewood captures her particular brand of eldest-child responsibility mixed with resentment, especially in her complicated relationship with her husband Luc and her secret emotional affair with an old flame.
Nancy, the middle child, is written with particular nuance. Rather than falling into familiar middle-child stereotypes, she’s portrayed as someone whose acting career and general life trajectory feel like conscious rebellion against expectations. Her smoking habit—hidden from her family—becomes a perfect metaphor for the secrets everyone maintains.
Eva, the potential favorite, could have been written as either a saint or a villain, but Littlewood wisely avoids both extremes. She’s successful, driven, and genuinely caring, yet increasingly uncomfortable with the possibility that her achievements might be tainted by parental favoritism she never consciously sought.
The Parents
Vivienne and Patrick Fisher are portrayed with complexity that goes beyond typical parent archetypes. Patrick’s favoritism isn’t malicious but rather seems to stem from deep-seated guilt about a period of abandonment in Eva’s early childhood. Vivienne carries her own secrets, including a smoking habit and potentially more explosive revelations about Eva’s paternity.
Writing Style and Voice: Precise and Evocative
Littlewood’s prose style has evolved from her debut, showing increased confidence in handling multiple narrative voices. She excels at capturing the particular rhythms of family conversation—the half-finished sentences, the loaded silences, the jokes that aren’t quite jokes. Her descriptions of the glass house itself become almost character-like, with its transparency serving as a perfect metaphor for the family’s inability to hide from each other.
The author demonstrates particular skill in writing about memory and how different family members recall the same events differently. This becomes crucial as past incidents are revisited and reinterpreted through adult eyes.
Dialogue and Internal Monologue
The dialogue feels authentic without becoming overly stylized. Each character has a distinct voice that reflects their personality and position within the family. Nancy’s tendency toward drama, Alex’s measured responses, and Eva’s directness all come through clearly in their speech patterns.
Themes and Analysis
The Myth of Family Equality
At its core, The Accidental Favorite interrogates the comforting lie that parents love all their children equally. Littlewood suggests that while parents may strive for equality, unconscious preferences and the particular circumstances of each child’s upbringing inevitably create imbalances that can persist for decades.
Secrets and Their Consequences
The novel explores how family secrets—even those kept with good intentions—can poison relationships across generations. The mystery surrounding Patrick’s temporary abandonment of the family and its potential connection to Eva’s conception adds layers of complexity to what could have been a simpler story.
The Glass House Metaphor
The setting isn’t merely decorative; the transparent house becomes a powerful symbol for how impossible it is to truly hide within families, yet how much energy family members expend trying to maintain privacy and protect each other from uncomfortable truths.
Critical Assessment: Strengths and Weaknesses
What Works Brilliantly
- Character Psychology: Littlewood demonstrates sophisticated understanding of family dynamics and birth order psychology
- Structural Sophistication: The dual timeline reveals information strategically, maintaining suspense while building emotional depth
- Authentic Dialogue: Family conversations feel genuinely observed rather than manufactured
- Emotional Honesty: The book doesn’t shy away from the messier aspects of family love
Areas for Improvement
While The Accidental Favorite succeeds on many levels, it occasionally suffers from pacing issues in the middle section. Some of the flashback sequences, while individually compelling, sometimes slow the momentum of the present-day crisis. The resolution, while emotionally satisfying, feels somewhat rushed given the complexity of the issues raised.
The novel also occasionally relies too heavily on coincidences to drive plot development, and some of the secondary characters (particularly the partners and children) feel underdeveloped compared to the Fisher family core.
Comparative Context: Literary Family Dramas
The Accidental Favorite joins a rich tradition of family dysfunction literature but brings its own distinct perspective. It shares DNA with works like:
- Tom Lake by Ann Patchett – for its exploration of blended family dynamics
- The Nest by Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney – for its focus on adult siblings confronting family mythology
- Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng – for its examination of secrets and their consequences
However, Littlewood’s particular focus on the glass house setting and the moment-of-crisis structure gives her work a unique claustrophobic intensity that sets it apart from these comparisons.
Verdict: A Worthy Follow-Up
The Accidental Favorite confirms that Littlewood’s debut success wasn’t a fluke. While it doesn’t quite reach the emotional heights of Amazing Grace Adams, it demonstrates impressive growth in technical skill and thematic sophistication. The novel succeeds because it refuses to provide easy answers to complex emotional questions, instead trusting readers to understand that some family wounds never fully heal—they just learn to coexist with love.
For readers who appreciate character-driven literary fiction that excavates the fault lines in seemingly stable families, The Accidental Favorite offers a compelling and emotionally resonant experience. It’s a book that will likely spark discussions about family dynamics and the stories we tell ourselves about love, loyalty, and forgiveness.
Recommended for Readers Who Enjoyed
- Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty
- The Light We Lost by Jill Santopolo
- Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng
- The Mothers by Brit Bennett
- Such a Pretty Girl by Laura Wiess
