Written with the domestic insight of Jodi Picoult, reminiscent in style to Where’d You Go, Bernadette, and playing with dimensional narratives as The Lovely Bones did, I LIKED MY LIFE is Abby Fabiaschi’s marvelous debut that leaves you pondering: If you live your life for other people, can you truly be happy? And what becomes of those you served once you’re gone?

I LIKED MY LIFE unfurls the story of the Starlings, a seemingly happy family whose matriarch, Madeline, dies tragically in what is deemed a suicide. Madeline was a model wife and mother who chose to stay at home after many successful years in the corporate world; she was the glue that held her family together. Through alternating points of view, Fabiaschi reveals her characters: Madeline, postmortem, as she attempts to make things right for her family; Brady, as he struggles to balance his high-powered career with the demands of single fatherhood; and Eve, as grief thrusts her into adulthood and she grapples to find her identity without her mother by her side. The result is a vivid, hopeful, and achingly beautiful portrait of a father and daughter trying to redefine their understanding of family and a striking depiction of the transcendent power of unconditional love.