Two estranged sisters. One childhood home. A family secret that was never meant to survive their mother.

When Claire Mercer returns to the small Southern town she left twelve years ago, she plans to help her sister June clear out their mother’s house, sign the sale papers, and leave before the past can follow her home.

June has other plans.

Hidden inside their mother’s sewing box is a sealed letter, an old photograph, and the first clue to a secret that shaped both sisters’ lives. The father they believed abandoned them may not have left by choice. The mother they trusted kept more than one truth buried. And the elderly woman behind the blue garden gate knows why Claire’s name appears in the margins of a forgotten book.

As Claire and June uncover unopened letters, adoption papers, and the story their family pretended to be, they must confront the resentment that divided them—and decide whether forgiveness is possible when love and betrayal have lived in the same house for years.

*The Family We Pretended to Be* is an emotional women’s fiction novel about family secrets, estranged sisters, a small-town homecoming, an adoption secret, and the difficult path toward healing. Perfect for readers who enjoy heartfelt family dramas, sisters fiction, and page-turning stories about the truths that finally come home.