"I'll Never Be Long Gone"

I'll Never Be Long Gone" is the third of 5 novels by Thomas Christopher Greene but the first one I have read.  This one features brothers Charlie and Owen Bender who must put their lives together after their father's death and their mother's return from rural Vermont to New York City where she and their dad lived in their early married years.

Charlie inherits the restaurant his father owned and invested his life in while Owen is left a note by his father telling him to follow his own path -- wherever that might take him.  The brothers have always been close but the death of their father separates them as Charlie lives alone in the family home and runs the restaurant and Owen sets off to find himself.  Enter Claire (Owen's high school girlfriend) who takes a job in the restaurant as a chef working along side Charlie and romance blossoms but what will happen if/when Owen returns?

This is a story of complex family dynamics and love and loss -- very well written which means I'll be checking out his first book, "Mirror Lake," next.  pazt