The Best We Could Hope For: A powerful family saga about loyalty, memory and the weight of secrets

From a #1 New York Times bestselling author comes a powerful novel about family, the weight of secrets, the choices we make and the repercussions of the decisions made for us.

When Bunny Linden abandons her three children with her older sister, Jayne, in 1972, she knows Jayne will be the perfect mother. The mother Bunny, a teen runaway, could never be.

As months turn into years without word, Jayne and her husband, Rodger, a rising journalism star, strive to give the children the opportunity to flourish and feel loved. When Jayne and Rodger finally have a child of their own, a seemingly stable home is built. But then, after nearly a decade, Bunny resurfaces and sets a chain of events in motion that detonates all their lives.

As adults, their children try to reassemble the pieces and solve the mystery that has always haunted them. Who were their parents? What really happened between them? And who is ultimately to blame for the destruction? But will the answers they seek set them free - or lead to something far more damaging than anyone imagined?

This deeply felt family saga is perfect for fans of Claire Lombardo’s The Most Fun We Ever Had, Anne Tyler’s A Spool of Blue Thread and Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney’s The Nest, as well as readers of Mary Beth Keane and Emma Straub.

'Kraus perfectly captures the ache and stretch of adolescence, the grief and rage of middle age and the loss and doubt that form the drumbeat beneath it all. Consistently surprising in all the best ways, this book is a beacon!' - CATHERINE NEWMAN, author of Sandwich

'A unique, deeply moving story told with heart, depth and humor' - REBECCA SERLE, author of In Five Years

'So heartbreaking and so good I couldn't stop reading... Like Ann Patchett, Kraus gets at the heart of how people can disconnect from their truest selves, and how, if they're lucky, they can find their way back' - CAROLINE LEAVITT, author of Pictures of You

'Writing with grace and intelligence, Kraus explores the complex intersection of memory and loyalty in a sweeping story about a broken family and the women who knit together the remains. Perfect for book clubs' - SARAH PEKKANEN, author of House of Glass

'Kraus deftly shows how the fog of generational trauma can finally give way to clarity and understanding when the grown children in a uniquely blended family learn how their mothers' painful pasts shaped them all' - LAURA ZIGMAN, author of Small World

This novel contains references to sexual violence and child abuse.

© 2025 Verve Books (Ebook): 9780857309143

Release date

Ebook: 6 May 2025