Immediate Family

A heartfelt exploration of the complexities of family, identity, and the unbreakable bond between siblings.On the day of her brother's wedding, our narrator struggles to find the right words for her toast. Despite a recent fracture in their relationship, her brother, Danny, has asked her to give a speech. As she reflects on their shared childhood, she realizes their story refracts in unexpected ways.When she was nine years old, she traveled with her parents to Thailand to meet her brother, six years her junior. They grew up together like any other siblings in Northern California, but as she holds their story up to the light, she grapples with the complexities of their bond.Through a heartfelt letter addressed to Danny, she attempts a full accounting of their years together, invoking everything from classic Victorian adoption plots to documents from Danny's case file. She also confesses to the parts of her life she has kept from him, including her own struggle with infertility.In Immediate Family, a tender and fierce debut novel, Ashley Nelson Levy explores the enduring connection between two siblings and the intricacies of motherhood, infertility, race, and the many definitions of family.