Chosen Family
Madeleine Gray
Summit Books, 2025
The central premise of this page-turning novel is the idea of creating a family with someone who you choose to be your partner in child raising, not as an extension of a romantic partnership.
This novel is the second for Australian Madeleine Gray, who previously wrote Green Dot, a similarly engaging tale of a more traditional, but still convoluted, relationship.
The novel goes back and forth in time, following one timeline from Nell and Eve’s first meeting in Year 7, where they become immediate fast friends, and the current day, where Eve is raising their young daughter, Lake, alone. The intrigue of the story becomes what has happened between them and what went wrong.
Beginning in year 7, Madeleine Gray draws the anxieties of teenage life exquisitely, particularly the pain that comes with being in love with your best friend.
As the pair move through school and into university, Eve embraces her lesbianism, whereas Nell struggles to retain the central place in Eve’s affections that she has claimed for so long.
This is played out against the backdrop of many of the transitions we all go through from teenage life to young adulthood: uni, jobs, parents, family, friends, moving, claiming your autonomy, and sense of self.
Gray reveals that our true loves are the ones who know, forgive and accept us, finally being able to articulate what we truly mean to each other.
A very engaging, moving and creatively written novel. Highly recommended.
