The Family Summary

Jennifer's family lives in a castle in California during her childhood. The children grow up and move on, but then they find out that their father has a brain tumor.

Jen's mother is an Englishwoman, and her father the son of missionaries in Tokyo. They move into an ancient castle in the San Francisco Bay area, built many years ago by German immigrants who wanted to feel at home. The family has three children, Ben, Jennifer, and Randy. Ben is the oldest, so he tortures Jen, and Randy is a few years younger than Jen, so Jen and Ben torture him a little, mostly just wedgies. The children have become young adults by the beginning of the story and have moved out of the castle. Jen lives alone in a cabin nearby. Ben has finally straightened out after being on a...