How to Survive a Natural Disaster — Margaret Hawkins

"I didn't speak until I was seven. I didn't feel the need," May tells us on one page of How to Survive a Natural Disaster, a story of family rivalry, betrayal, violence and forgiveness told in six voices. May, the strange, silent orphan brought to a leafy suburb north of Chicago at six months old to mend the lives of a troubled family, might not talk, but as her Grandma Jack observes, "That baby studies people."

Next we hear from May's parents, her sister, her dog and Phoebe, their agoraphobic neighbor who is the one who finally must rise to the occasion when May decides to take matters into their own hands.

As each character makes a case for his or own side of the story the reader learns that blood ties aren't what make a family and that sometimes survival is only possible through forgiveness.