The Wrong Family(79)

And there it was: just five feet behind the trapdoor, lying sideways among the garbage like a bloated, gray cabbage; how had he missed it on the way in? George screamed. Dust swept into his mouth as it yawed open, and then he was coughing and crying. He sounded like a fucking dying racoon. Someone had decorated the dead man’s body with garbage, piling it around him like a tomb. There was a cardboard sign with writing propped near the feet of the corpse, and there was something wedged in his mouth between two gummy, grotesque lips.

George shone his flashlight toward the mouth that would give him nightmares for years to come and saw the metal barrel of a gun. Someone had rammed the weapon, backward, into the dead man’s mouth so it stared with a single eye at George. His eyes went back to the sign, the writing slanting off the cardboard in a drunken scrawl. He wondered what the man had done to deserve having a gun rammed down his throat the wrong way. And who had been angry enough to do the ramming? He lunged for the trapdoor, getting one last, horrified look at the face he would later find out was the missing man, the murderer. Someone, probably the someone rotting in the ditch back there, had left a message.

I’m sorry. I was wrong. I just wanted to do the right thing.



* * *



If you loved this book and you haven’t read Tarryn Fisher’s runaway bestseller The Wives, keep reading for a special excerpt. You won’t be able to put it down!





      ACKNOWLEDGMENTS


Thank you to my agent, Jane Dystel, of whom I am a complete fangirl. You are a woman to be reckoned with and you have great cheekbones. I am so grateful for you.

My editor, Brittany Lavery, who offered so much patience and flexibility as I wrote this book and came up with Juno’s last words. You’re a class act, Brittany! My team at Graydon House, who I’m genuinely excited to be a part of—Ana, Pam, Susan, Roxanne. And at HarperCollins Canada—Karen, Leo, Cory, Jaclyn, Kaiti. Thank you for being my dream team. You make me feel so lucky. Thanks to Sean Kapitain for the great cover.

Shannon Wylie for working through the plot with me in the early days of writing the book.

Serena and Luke Knautz for always being available and willing to do for others. What you’ve done for me and my career could never be repaid. I love you guys. And to Sophia and Cash, who let me borrow their mom every day—thanks, guys! She’s the best.

Traci Finlay, to whom this book is dedicated. You were my first writing partner and first best friend. I don’t know anyone with sharper eyes for plot. Thank you for always dropping everything to help me.

Erica Rusikoff of Erica Edits, Christine Estevez from Wildfire Marketing. Thanks to the bloggers who have included my stories in their passion to share books.

To the PLNs who have supported me through every phase of my writing and life, I attribute much of my joy and success to you. Thank you for being a loud voice for my art. You will always be my favorites. Heathens. I hate croutons.

Willow Aster for being my daily support, love, and mental health stabilizer. Colleen Hoover, I’m sick of loving you but I can’t stop. Kathleen Tucker, Dina Silver, Claire Contreras, Christine Brae, Cait Norman. Holly for moving to come help me when I needed it most. Bertha, I love you so, thank you for helping me keep my everyday life together. My early readers, Dez, Tobi, Amy, Lindsey, Tasara, Jaime. To the lovely Tess Callahan, who wrote one of my favorite books, April & Oliver. Andrea Dunlop for your valuable insight. Shanora Williams for your friendship. James Reynolds for your friendship and sharp ideas.

My perfect babies, Scarlet and Ryder, who ate a lot of takeout while I wrote this book, thanks for all the babysitting hours you guys put in and for coming to hang out with me in my office for all those months I made it my crawl space. And to Avett, who ripped up my notebook outlining The Wrong Family: thanks for reminding me to be a pantser, Avett.

Thanks, Mom, for being my forever supporter and never telling me to get a real job. You told me I could do this and I believed you. Jeff for always supporting and feeding me.

To my husband, Joshua, who sat for hours with me in the dark while I wrote, bringing drinks and snacks and falling asleep on my office floor so I wouldn’t be in there alone. You’re all the romance I’ll ever need.

And finally, to my aunt Marlene Groenewald, who told me a version of this story twenty years ago. I think of you every day. This book would not exist without you. I love you so much and I miss you. Tell Dad I said hi.





   The

Wrong

Family

   Tarryn Fisher

   Reader’s Guide





Discussion Questions


        Motherhood is a theme that runs through this whole book: Winnie’s relationship to Sam, Juno’s relationship with her own estranged sons, Juno’s relationship to Sam, and, of course, Josalyn’s role as a mother and Winnie’s interference in that. As a society, how do we judge mothers who we perceive have made mistakes, and how does the role of motherhood in this book reflect that?

    Winnie is a complicated character who doesn’t always behave well or do the right thing. Did you feel sympathy for Winnie, even after you discovered the full truth about her? Why or why not?

    How does Winnie’s need to control things around her, especially her family life, backfire on her?