If only the Flynns were Stoics.
I’ve been trying to get into the habit of reading a daily passage from Ryan Holiday’s “The Daily Stoic” and it occurs to me if Bud, Catherine, Abigail, Louise or Harper had simply focused on the choices they can make every day, each one of the Flynn clan would have had what they sought so much sooner.
Sure, Marcus Aurelius is a smart guy with some good advice. But then we would have been deprived of such a great story.
Madeline Cash’s debut, “Lost Lambs,” is the tale of the family Flynn, living in working in a harbor town established by the Alabaster family over the course of a few generations. Bud, the family patriarch, is a former local rock band member that is living his not-so-best life as a systems manager at Alabaster Harbor, and is married to Catherine, the girl he wooed in his rocker youth and who is now contemplating an open marriage as the solution to her own mid-life crises.
Abigail, Louise and Harper are their three daughters, all up to some sort of mischief — one likes to date outside of what her parents would consider an acceptable circle, another is making questionable choices online, and the third just has a lot of questions, period.
Rounding out the main cast is a wayward priest, an opportunistic neighbor, a kindhearted counseling leader of sorts, best friends and mean girls and of course, the elusive Paul Alabaster, billioniare owner of the harbor.
Sure, the Flynns can battle each other and get themselves into hot water on the daily — but can they come together to save one of their own? And maybe solve the mystery of what’s in the (redacted) that arrives at the same time each year?
Oh — fun fact — maybe don’t accept a drink that includes an alligator embryo ice cube. Just sayin’, Abigail.
“Lost Lambs” has heavy, heavy Kevin Wilson vibes — lots of comical family dysfunction with equal amounts of heart. It’s a quick, thoroughly enjoyable read, clocking in at just over 300 pages and with visceral language tricks that are designed to evoke an amotional response.
This book is also on more than a handful of “best of” lists this summer, so if you want to hang with the “IYKYK” book crowd, this is an easy entry point. Great for the beach, the pool, the road trip on a summer vacay. Don’t pass it up.
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