The great-granddaughter of Eleanor and Franklin writes about members of a fictional elite family struggling to shape their individual identities.When Roger Whitby Jr. dies, his many children from his first three marriages (family tree provided) discover that he has bequeathed the little left of the Whitby fortune to his fourth wife's son, Nick, whom he adopted. Although the plot is ostensibly about inheritance, the older, barely fleshed-out nonheirs are remarkably nonchalant about getting nothing; only Shelley, from marriage No. 3, and Brooke, from No. 2, fear losing the family houses where they were raised and still live, though it seems unlikely that Nick, unreachable after having participated in an environmental protest gone awry, will be greedy. The true subject here, developed through memories of childhoods and marriages, is the ambivalent love Nick, Shelley, and Brooke feel for Roger, who abandoned each differently. By the time the 21-year-old Nick eventually shows up at 22-year-old Shelley's Upper West Side brownstone, she is in a creepy sexual liaison with her new employer, Kamal, a blind Egyptian architect. Nick begins a romance with Kamal's nave, intellectual daughter, whom he involves in his Occupy Wall Street-type activity. Meanwhile, in Boston, 37-year-old nurse Brooke wants to keep her Beacon Hill house for the baby she's conceived sleeping with a nouveau riche Italian-American to avoid acknowledging she might be gay. Brooke's disdain for her sex-mate reflects Whitby snobbery and perhaps the author'sNick's pointedly middle-class mother is also portrayed as crassly mercenary compared to Roger's previous aristocratic wives, while Nick's lefty friends are beyond the pale. Given the Whitby kids' claims to shun their privileged advantages, the frequent references to fancy schools and Martha's Vineyard vacations wear thin. The Whitbys increasingly come across as spoiled, self-absorbed, and ultimately trivial poor rich kids.Roosevelt knows her terrain, but it remains unclear if she meant this family portrait to be as unflattering as it is. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Roosevelt's solid debut dissects a privileged family wrestling with the ghost of an imperious patriarch and dwindling fortune. Opening in 2003, the saga revolves primarily around three children of Roger Whitby Jr. Adopted son Nick inherits the patriarch's lucrative properties thanks to his manipulative mother and Whitby's fourth wife, but prefers the life of a left-wing rebel; Brooke, a daughter from Whitby's second marriage and a nurse in Boston, wrestles with her devotion to the woman she loves and the man she thinks she ought to marry and raise a child with; and free-spirited Shelley, daughter from a third marriage, moves to New York and develops a twisted relationship with a blind Egyptian architect, Kamal, after he hires her to help him write a book about urban American WASPs in the early 20th century. Nick moves in with Shelley, setting up a moment between the three siblings that'll begin to undo the havoc Roger Whitby Jr.'s will-and abandonment-created in his children's lives. Roger's three children are not fully formed enough outside of his shadow, and consequently the narrative feels unbalanced on a character level. Roosevelt does a good job handling the twists and turns of an unraveling dynasty, making for a diverting yet frustrating novel. (Mar.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

*Starred Review* Roger Whitby Jr. of the landlords of New York Whitbys has died, leaving behind children from four separate marriages and a depleted fortune that he bequeaths in full to his 20-year-old adopted son, Nick. Among the remaining assets are several houses, including one in Boston occupied by daughter Brooke and another in New York occupied by daughter Shelley. All have struggled with their father's disregard as well as the need to live up to expectations that come with being a Whitby. Brooke, unexpectedly pregnant, wants stability and hopes Nick can be convinced to sign over the Boston house to her. One problem: Nick has disappeared. Shelley, meanwhile, has dropped out of college and is on her own since her unhinged mother has been hospitalized again. In need of cash, she accepts a job as an assistant to blind architect Yousef Kamal, a situation that takes an unsettling turn. Then Nick shows up, on the run from authorities, and her house becomes a squat for a group of eco-activists. Roosevelt's debut reveals a sure hand, an eye for detail, and a keen sense of the absurd, and her affection for Brooke, Shelley, and Nick shines through as they fumble their way toward wisdom.--Mary Ellen Quinn Copyright 2019 Booklist