In the book Within Arm’s Reach, Gracie and Lila lead the effort to make sugar cookies for Easter lunch. The lunch introduces us to the McLaughlin Clan, a spirited, Irish-American family working through past and present trauma that both draws them together and pulls them apart. Grab your Easter bunny and egg cookie cutters and make these old-fashioned rolled sugar cookies with the McLaughlins, courtesy of Harbour Breeze Home.

Within Arm’s Reach follows the McLaughlin clan, an Irish-American family living in New Jersey.  The story is told through the lens of six different characters representing three different generations– Catharine, Lila, Kelly, Noreen, Louis, and Gracie.

Lila is a medical student who is highly respected within the family.  At the cusp of her graduation from medical school, she has drive and success.  What she doesn’t have is happiness.  One day, she meets a man who should be unattractive to her in every way.  However, will his quiet self-assurance change the trajectory of her life?

Meanwhile, Gracie, Lila’s sister, has lived life to the fullest.  She is currently working as a reporter for the local newspaper when she finds out she is pregnant.  Single, unmarried, and alone, she is dreading telling her VERY Irish-Catholic family about the baby.  What she does not realize is that she has an unlikely ally.

Noreen Ballen is a nurse at the local hospital.  She has been caring for the matriarch of the McLaughlin family, Catharine, since she was admitted.  What she doesn’t know is that she has been stalked for the last couple of years by Louis, Kelly McLaughlin’s husband, who feels responsible for the death of Noreen’s husband.  Noreen slowly begins to realize the ties she has to the McLaughlin clan.

Ann Napolitano has created a vast array of characters that are both loving and complicated, caring and impatient, and loyal and flawed.  Then, she weaved their stories together to form a realistic and beautiful family tree.  The book was a little on the long side, and at times it dragged along.  It goes to show how much Napolitano has grown as an author over the years.  Still, I enjoyed exploring each character’s inner turmoil and found myself rooting for every single one of them. Within Arm’s Reach is yet another example of why Napolitano’s books are an automatic buy from me.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️