*** Named a Kirkus Reviews Starred Title in Their 10/01/14 Issue
***
In 1968 two boys are born into a large family, both named for their
grandfather, Peter Henry Hightower. One boy--Peter--grows up in Africa
and ends up a journalist in Granada. The other--Petey--becomes a minor
criminal, first in Cleveland and then in Kiev. In 1995, Petey runs afoul
of his associates and disappears. But the criminals, bent on revenge,
track down the wrong cousin, and the Peter in Granada finds himself on
the run. He bounces from one family member to the next, piecing together
his cousin's involvement in international crime while learning the truth
about his family's complicated history. Along the way the original Peter
Henry Hightower's story is revealed, until it catches up with that of
his children, revealing how Peter and Petey have been living in their
grandfather's shadow all along.
The novel takes a look at capitalism and organized crime in the 20th
century, the legend of the self-made man, and what money can do to
people. Like Jeffrey Eugenides' Middlesex, The Family Hightower
stretches across both generations and continents, bearing the weight of
family secrets and the inevitable personal toll they take on loved ones
despite our best intentions.
