This Is Not About Us

A kaleidoscopic portrait of a modern American family - steadfast, complicated, begrudging, and loving - from the bestselling author of Isola

Was this just a brief skirmish, or the beginning of a thirty-year feud? In the Rubinstein family, it could go either way.

When their beloved sister passes away, Sylvia and Helen Rubinstein are unmoored. A misunderstanding about apple cake turns into a decade of stubborn silence. Busy with their own lives - divorces, dating, career setbacks, college applications, bat mitzvahs and ballet recitals - their children do not want to get involved. As for their grandchildren? Impossible.

With This Is Not About Us, master storyteller Allegra Goodman - whose prior collection was heralded as "one of the most astute and engaging books about American family life" (The Boston Globe) - returns to the form and subject that endeared her to legions of readers. Sharply observed and laced with humor, This Is Not About Us is a story of growing up and growing old, the weight of parental expectations, and the complex connection between sisters - a big-hearted book about the love that binds a family across generations.