I come from a big family, a vast number of cousins, some of which I am in contact with, none of which I actually ever see, due to distance mostly. He points out that this is similar to how families work, tightly woven for a period and then once unravelled, the ripples remain, crimped in forever. How the braid leaves the hair rippled for a long time after.

One of the characters likens family to the unravelling of a French braid. I don’t think it’s a spoiler if I elaborate on it here, and really, it explains so much about the novel and will give you an insight into what it’s about. The title of this novel bears a great deal of significance and is explained right before it ends. ‘Oh, the lengths this family would go to so as not to spoil the picture of how things were supposed to be!’ Because as with all her families, there is much to recognise within, as well as much to contemplate and think over. This is of course what I love most about Anne Tyler – that she can pull us into the everyday and hold us so entirely captivated for the duration. As with all her previous novels, French Braid has no plot to speak of, but is instead a deep character study of the members of the Garrett family through the generations. I always feel a bit useless writing a review on an Anne Tyler novel, to be honest, because I always love them, and the nature of her writing gives little room for commentary. What is there to even say? There is truly no other author out there like her.

Anne tyler french braid review