A Family Matter

A Family Matter is a literary fiction novel published in 2025 and British author Claire Lynch’s debut. Set in southern England in two distinct time periods, 1982 and 2022. The 1982 story is about a love affair between two lesbian women, one of whom, Dawn, is married. In the divorce that follows, Dawn loses custody of Maggie, her three-year-old daughter. The later story shows how Maggie, now grown up and married with children, is driven to discover what happened all those years ago, which has been kept from her. In addition to showing the antigay bias faced by members of the LGBTQ+ community in the 1980s, the novel examines themes revolving around love, loss, injustice, change, survival, and acceptance. 

This guide refers to the Scribner 2025 hardback edition.

Content Warning: The source material and guide feature depictions of illness, death, antigay bias, sexual content, and emotional abuse.

Plot Summary

The narrative alternates between 1982 and 2022, telling different but linked stories in each period.

In July 2022, a 65-year-old divorced man named Heron, who lives alone, has just learned from his doctor that he has a terminal illness. He calls his daughter Maggie, as he does every night, but says nothing of his illness. Maggie is married to Conor, and they have two children: 14-year-old Tom and 8-year-old Olivia.

In the summer of 1982, Dawn, a young mother married to Heron, goes to a jumble sale in the village where she lives. She meets another young woman named Hazel.

In August 2022, during a workday, Maggie sits on a park bench eating her lunch and thinking of a quarrel she had that morning with Tom. Meanwhile, the medication Heron is taking him makes him overweight, so he walks more and joins a gym.

Over the summer of 1982, Dawn and Hazel meet often and get to know each other. One evening, they share a romantic kiss.

In September 2022, Maggie takes the train to her office in London, where she has a responsible job. That evening, she and Conor have a “date night,” in which Conor cooks dinner and they watch TV together.

After school, Tom visits his grandfather Heron, who still cannot bring himself to tell anyone he is ill. He keeps busy in the garden and at the gym, but he is unable to sleep.

In September 1982, Dawn and Hazel go to bed together during their lunch hour. Dawn collects her three-year-old daughter Maggie from her playgroup, and they spend the rest of the day together. Dawn eventually tells her husband about her relationship with Hazel. Heron reacts negatively, and they have a fight. Dawn drives to a park and sleeps in her car all night. When she returns in the morning, she finds that the lock on the door has been changed, and she cannot get into her home.

In October 2022, Heron learns more about his cancer diagnosis and undergoes an MRI scan. Maggie drives Tom to Heron’s house, where Tom interviews his grandfather for a school history project. He asks Heron how he and his wife met. Maggie listens from the kitchen as Heron talks. She knows nothing of this part of her father’s life.

In October 1982, Heron is doing his best to look after Maggie. He also thinks he can forgive Dawn and their lives can return to normal. Dawn says Maggie needs her, and Heron gives her a house key so she can help look after Maggie. Heron consults a solicitor, who tells him that in these cases, judges decide that a woman such as Dawn—who is having an affair with another woman—is an unfit mother. The solicitor advises Heron to sue for full custody.

One Saturday afternoon in November 2022, Heron and Maggie sit at his kitchen table, enjoying each other’s company. She helps him go through a box of old papers, discarding things he no longer needs. Heron finally tells her about his cancer diagnosis.

Maggie and Conor agree not to tell the children that their grandfather is ill in order to protect them. In her relationship with her father, Maggie tries to carry on as normal, and no more is said about his illness. Meanwhile, Conor tells Maggie to talk to her father about the past, since Maggie knows almost nothing about her mother.

One morning in November 1982, Hazel tells Dawn about her first love, a girl named Jill at school. Her mother found out about it, burned Hazel’s diary, and sent her away to teacher training college. Hazel thinks it might be possible to make the relationship work if they moved to a city. She also guesses that soon their secret may be out, and they will face opposition.

Meanwhile, Dawn attends several meetings of a lesbian support group at a bookshop in London. She listens as women in similar positions to her tell their stories. Many of the women advise her to avoid court and reach a private arrangement. However, divorce proceedings have begun, and a court date is set.

In December 2022, Maggie is planning the family Christmas. Heron will spend the day with Maggie and her family. As Maggie goes through a box of old papers that Heron has given her, she finds a court welfare document from 1982 about the custody agreement. She is shocked to realize that her father has been lying to her about the past.

On Christmas Day, Maggie cooks the turkey, and Heron arrives along with Conor’s family arrive. Maggie remembers the awkwardness of her childhood Christmases with her father. She also wonders what her mother was like. She is sad but does not let it show; she asks her father no difficult questions.

At the court hearing in December 1982, Dawn listens to a social worker say that her child is at moral risk. Heron’s solicitor tells him they must get tougher, or it will end up as a shared custody arrangement. Heron authorizes his solicitor to pursue a more aggressive strategy.

Heron’s lawyer asks Dawn questions about her sex life with Hazel and reads from Hazel’s letters to her. The lawyer claims they show Dawn had plans to abandon her daughter, which Dawn denies. A psychiatrist testifies that in such a case, the daughter will be harmed. Dawn had thought the hearing would be fair and is devastated by what she hears.

One Saturday in January 2023, Conor suggests that Maggie call her father to discuss what is on her mind, but Maggie is reluctant. She can understand her father’s decision not to tell her about her mother. On the last day of the Christmas holidays, Maggie tells her children that their grandfather is ill. During brunch, the family mood is somber.

Maggie finally confronts Heron, who claims that at the time he thought he was doing the best thing for everyone. He shows her a box that contains birthday cards from her mother that he never passed on to her. Maggie remembers that Heron told her that if anyone asked, she was to say that her mother had got a job abroad or had run off with another man.

Back in January 1983, Dawn reads to her daughter. Then, after rereading the court judgment about the custody award, she packs her belongings and leaves the house.

After an internet search in February 2023, Maggie discovers where her mother and Hazel live, and she makes an arrangement to visit them. It is a nearly four-hour drive. Maggie and Dawn talk politely and walk through the village. Back at the house, Maggie shows Dawn pictures of her children. 

In the evening, Dawn tells her daughter that she never wanted to leave her, and a difficult conversation begins. Dawn says that losing Maggie was the worst thing that ever happened to her. Maggie is not willing to accept everything her mother says, but they decide to make a new start. Maggie takes her mother’s hand, and when she goes to bed that night, she feels better.