I enjoyed this book so much that I'm hoping someone makes a film based on it. Featuring the dysfunctional Flynn family consisting of Catherine, Wife/Mum, who wants a bit of excitement in her life, and to embrace her creativity, Bud, Husband/Dad, who just wants an easy life and has an affair with his support group's Leader, and the three daughters, Abigail - madly in love with War Crime Wes, Louise - invisible child who finds love online, and Harper who is too smart for her own good. Bud works for a large shipping company and uncovers something suspicious. After raising this with his Boss, he then gets to meet the Magnate himself and it really goes to shit.

This was funny, original, addictive and brilliant. For a debut novel, it was just excellent and I look forward to more stories from Madeleine Cash and her wonderful imagination.

I loved Madelines first novel and this didn't disappoint. Lost Lambs tells the story of a family, each with their own very unique storyline. The characters are flawed but loveable, and the writing is funny and excellent. The three daughters are my favourites especially Louise. The novel switches gears around the halfway mark from a family heavy novel to an action thriller conspiracy plot, but it works. Highly recommend. Thank you FSG and Netgalley. Can't wait to see this one out in the world.

*Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance reader copy of this novel in exchange for an review*

Really interesting story, absurd at moments, funny bits, etc. But some parts seemed underdeveloped, they felt a bit rushed, and also stereotyped. Still, 3.5, enjoyed overall.

Thanks to Netgalley and FSG for the ebook. A stunningly fun novel about the Flynn family. There parents have just started an open marriage (did both, or either of them, want this?) the eldest daughter is dating a war vet nicknamed War Crimes Wes (he’s actually very sweet) the middle child enters an inner beauty pageant at the church (and plans to blow it up when she doesn’t make the final round) and the youngest, brilliant, daughter has stumbled across something very wrong in their hometown. And she’s right. The wildly fractious family finally comes back together as they thwart the evil plans of the local billionaire who is a third generation shipping magnate. There is so much going on here, but the three daughters will stay with me for quite awhile.

I was cautiously optometric when I started reading this book but boy was I blown away! This was an incredibly funny, bizarre, touching, and reflective novel about self, family, and our place in our big bad world. The Flynn family was the perfect vessel for the message that author was trying to achieve. Unique? Check ✔️ Flawed? Very ✔️ Loveable? Absolutely ✔️ The Flynn family were giving slightly alternate universe Belcher (a la Bob's Burgers) vibes and I loved it!

I could not stop telling my friends about this book and I cannot wait to share it with everyone else I can find to listen!

Thank you to NetGalley and Farrar, Straus and Giroux for providing my with a free ARC.

Hilarious and original! I was obsessed with the writing and the characters. The cover and title are also brilliant!

I didn’t expect to love this as much as I did. Every character in Lost Lambs is unhinged in a different, spectacular way, and somehow I was rooting for all of them. The parents are in a failing open marriage. One daughter is chatting with a terrorist online, another gets shipped off to wilderness therapy, and the third is dating a man accused of war crimes. The story bounces between their points of view, and while that got a little chaotic, I stayed hooked. It’s absurd, dark, and way funnier than it should be.

I loved this - such a delight. Two middle-aged parents, unhappy with their relationship and their lot in life, are attempting an open marriage. Their three teenage daughters are going through it: the eldest is an age-gap relationship with War Time Wes, who suffers from IBS; the middle child is flirting with fundamentalism, and the youngest sees conspiracies everywhere.

This is a story of America: suburban ennui, female sexuality and the 1%.

I wasn't expecting to fall in love with these characters, yet I did!! Such a heartwarming ending. Can't wait to see what Cash does next.

The Flynn family is unraveling loudly, spectacularly, and maybe criminally....

Catherine and Bud’s “open marriage” has snapped under the weight of secrets. Abigail is dating a man nicknamed War Crime Wes. Louise has an online pen pal who may or may not be on a government watchlist. And Harper, the youngest and the most intellectually gifted, is being thrown out of school and sent to a wilderness camp.

Wildly funny, deeply unhinged, and interspersed with real-life themes, Lost Lambs is an impressive debut about the myth of the modern family. Before you know it, you will be rooting for every single family member.

#farraStruassGiroux #lostlambs #madelinecash

A warm but not too self-serious family saga. Cash's debut novel Lost Lambs reminded me of Nell Zink.

3.5 stars rounded up

Lost Lambs, the debut novel from Madeline Cash, is a chaotic, unhinged, and wild ride through the twisted inner workings of the Flynn family. With a constantly shifting POV, the story jumps from one deeply flawed family member to another, weaving a web of complex dynamics and interconnected side characters that keep the pages turning. However, there was a bit of head-hopping and sometimes an occasional one-shot POV from a barely mentioned side character, which didn’t feel like it was necessary or served a purpose to further either the plot or character development.

Fittingly titled, Lost Lambs draws on the idea that each Flynn family member is, in their own way, a lost lamb — wandering, flawed, and searching for a way back to something whole. It’s a subtle echo of the classic metaphor, giving the chaos a deeper anchor.

A dark family drama with a peppering of thriller/mystery, Lost Lambs is as dysfunctional as it gets. And that’s exactly what makes it such a compelling summer beach read. Cash doesn’t shy away from the messy or the absurd, sometimes teetering on the offensive.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance reader copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

An absurdist book about a highly dysfunctional family with characters who are utterly insane but still manage to have you rooting for them by the end. There's a failing 'open' marriage, a daughter who gets caught up talking to a terrorist online, one who gets sent to a wilderness camp, and another who dates a guy accused of war crimes (also a character who seems suspiciously like diddy if he owned a sketchy shipping container company)

Lost Lambs did an amazing job of interweaving real issues into the otherwise crazy story. No one acted in a regular/healthy way, but that made it a highly unique, compelling and entertaining read. The writing was easy enough to get through whilst also having some beautiful quotes once in a while.

Aspects of this story kinda felt like a toned down version of 'the discomfort of evening' with just how insane and weird the family dynamics are, but this has none of the gross/disturbing stuff that book did. If you didn't like that one there's still a good chance you'll like this, just a strange comparison I'd been thinking of and needed to include lol😭

Charming novel of family dysfunction and surprising warmth in a George Saunders/Donald Antrim/Patrick DeWitt–tinged slightly unreal world. While it is nominally about the fallout from an open marriage, the open marriage is possibly the least interesting thing about the book, which is high praise. The dialogue is clever and snappy, the chosen details always take a sharp turn from the expected (and the joke density is high), and the story clicks along at a brisk pace. I laughed out loud and read lines to my friends. It does feel like a novel written by a short story writer—a lot of the character arcs, especially with each of the three sisters, have the pace and focus of individual short stories, and I would have gladly read 200 more pages where the characters spend more time with each other. Nevertheless, smart, fun, and one of my favorite books I've read this year.

(Throughout the novel, words spelled with "n"s are occasionally replaced with "gn"—I had some hunches (calling to mind 'agnus dei', maybe??) but thought it was a fun and baffling easter egg.)

I received a copy for review. All opinions are my own. This was a great book for me as I enjoy family saga stories especially when they are told from the different points of view of its members. There was some whit and charm to the characters and I enjoyed their interactions. This was an easy to follow book that had some very relevant humor in it.