Vacationers

'Emma Straub's The Vacationers leaves you smiling for days' Maria Semple, author of Orange prize-shortlisted Where'd You Go, Bernadette?

Two weeks in a remote island villa with Americas most dysfunctional family what could possibly go wrong?

The Posts are going on their first family vacation in years, and its going to be a special one: Jim and Franny are taking their daughter Sylvia, son Bobby and his girlfriend, and Frannys best friend Charles and his husband, all the way to Mallorca for two weeks of the sort of relaxation, culture and cuisine that only Europe can offer.

But there are problems. After a transgression with a twenty-three-year-old editorial assistant, Jim has been unceremoniously sacked from his job, and now his and Frannys marriage is on the rocks. Charles and Lawrence are feeling divided over their future, Bobby is mired in debt problems and stuck in a relationship thats pulling in opposite directions and his girlfriend Carmen, super-fit personal trainer and, at forty-something, far too old for Bobby, seems to have realized her mistake. As for Sylvia, shes eighteen, about to go to college, and determined to lose her virginity before she gets there . . .