Replacing Dad

Book excerpt: Set on the Gulf Coast of Florida, the Marsh family faces what many American families have experienced in the last few decades: the reorganization of the family through divorce. This bittersweet novel has been called by one reviewer the funniest story since Auntie Mame. As mother Linda Marsh re-enters the dating world at the same time that her 15-year-old son does, comic, realistic situations develop. Eventually the three Marsh children and their mother, Linda, learn that the change in the family demands that they embrace the future and change with it. This novel became a CBS/Hallmark Channel movie in l999, starring Mary McDonnell, Tippi Hedren, Camilla Belle, Eric Von Detten as well as other renowned actors. The novel has been used in high school classes, college literature courses, and family study groups in discussions on adjustment to divorce.