The Family Heart: A Memoir of When Our Son Came Out

Most books about parents dealing with their child's announcement of his or her homosexuality are cast as "self-help" or educational. In the absence of informed, nonjudgmental material, these books are important, but more personal stories are also important. In Family Heart: A Memoir of When Our Son Came Out, novelist Robb Forman Dew tells the story of what happen to her--and her family--after her son Stephen came out.

There are no melodramatic scenes, but Dew's story is breathtaking in its emotional detail and its explication of everyday life. What is daring, and surprising, about Dew's story is that the moral weight is not upon Stephen to deal with the confused reactions of his parents, but upon the parents to deal with their own mixed emotions and the negative reactions of their friends. Homophobia, not homosexuality, is the problem here. Dew's prose, like her award-winning fiction, sparkles, and the insights she offers are not simply about sexuality but about the myths and secrets we all create to "protect," "defend," and ultimately distort what a family should--and can--be. --Michael Bronski