And The Dark Sacred Night by Julia Glass

I haven't kept up with this author well since her first novel 'Three Junes' came out.  It was given to me by one of my wonderful sister-in-law who gives me books for my birthday.  I picked this up because of how much I liked that first book.

This one starts off a little on the slow side, but it is worth sticking with.  Kit is stuck.  His wife is the bread winner since he lost his job as a college professor, and while he has become a wonderful cook while he is taking care of their children, there is a restless unhappiness to him that is driving his wife crazy, more crazy than the fact that they have limited financial resources.  She insists that Kit leave home and not come back until he has done some soul searching.

The big hole in Kit's past is his father.  His mother had the classic first love, no birth control, and now there is a baby on the way end of adolescence and she out and out refuses to talk about it.  Kit realizes that he is not like an adoptee, he feels that loss and his mother will not budge.  So he goes to his former step-father, who he had a good if emotionally distant relationship with, and they figure it out.

The last half of the book is the effect that finding his father's family has on him and the first half of the book is the effect not knowing that has on him.  It is well written, emotionally savvy and ultimately fun.  It is also connected to the story line in 'Three Junes'.