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Analyzing the Prescotts: A Novel
The heart-wrenching tale of a family in crisis and the therapist who makes the tough decision to save herself.
Every member of the Prescott family struggles with identity issues when the father, Hailey Prescott, leaves the family to live life as a woman, sending them all tumbling into emotions so violent they threaten to tear the family fabric to shreds. When Dr. Cotton Barnes, a happily married psychologist from Raleigh, North Carolina, signs on to treat the family, she is challenged to the edges of her own fragile boundaries as cracks in the veneer of the Prescotts' lives become craters.
The family members relate their stories in their chosen voices, each narrative in a different format. Marcus, the youngest, speaks to Cotton through his avatars; Gray, the mother, distances herself by referring to herself in the third person; the oldest child, Janis-a self-avowed loner-uses a defunct social media app; while the middle child, Cheryl, tries to keep everyone personally happy in person; and Hailey, the novelist father, hides behind her journals.
The Prescotts take turns breaking down and breaking through a roller coaster of emotions that mirrors what's happening in the Raleigh a series of LGBTQ+ hate crimes rocks the community to its core. Telling herself she must save them, Cotton stalks the family, but when Hailey Prescott becomes the latest victim of brutality, Cotton is forced to make a decision that will determine whether she saves her own marriage or the Prescotts. Or herself.
Analyzing the Prescotts is the latest from Dawn Reno Langley, a novelist who Foreword Reviews says writes with "authority and fine craftsmanship."
Every member of the Prescott family struggles with identity issues when the father, Hailey Prescott, leaves the family to live life as a woman, sending them all tumbling into emotions so violent they threaten to tear the family fabric to shreds. When Dr. Cotton Barnes, a happily married psychologist from Raleigh, North Carolina, signs on to treat the family, she is challenged to the edges of her own fragile boundaries as cracks in the veneer of the Prescotts' lives become craters.
The family members relate their stories in their chosen voices, each narrative in a different format. Marcus, the youngest, speaks to Cotton through his avatars; Gray, the mother, distances herself by referring to herself in the third person; the oldest child, Janis-a self-avowed loner-uses a defunct social media app; while the middle child, Cheryl, tries to keep everyone personally happy in person; and Hailey, the novelist father, hides behind her journals.
The Prescotts take turns breaking down and breaking through a roller coaster of emotions that mirrors what's happening in the Raleigh a series of LGBTQ+ hate crimes rocks the community to its core. Telling herself she must save them, Cotton stalks the family, but when Hailey Prescott becomes the latest victim of brutality, Cotton is forced to make a decision that will determine whether she saves her own marriage or the Prescotts. Or herself.
Analyzing the Prescotts is the latest from Dawn Reno Langley, a novelist who Foreword Reviews says writes with "authority and fine craftsmanship."
309 pages, Kindle Edition
Published January 4, 2024
4 people are currently reading
3 people want to read
About the author
Dawn Reno Langley
21 books222 followersLangley writes full-time in Durham, North Carolina
Born an Army brat to a WWII and Korea vet, Dawn (Brander Tutela Reno) Langley began writing at a young age. Her essay on the Cuban missile crisis was published in a local newspaper, and since then, she has written hundreds of articles for newspapers and magazines, has published children's books, novels, nonfiction books on Native American and African American art, award-winning essays, short stories, and poetry.
As a novelist, she employs the skills she used as a journalist and conducts extensive research. Each story centers on a social dilemma, and she never writes a story about which she has no passion. The back story for each novel is on her Goodreads blog. https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...
She also blogs about excursions with her dog, Izzy, as well as one about growing up in the 1950s/60s and occasionally contributes to others' blogs (as well as to her own about gardening):
http://dawnrenolangley.wordpress.com
http://dawnrenolangley.blogspot.com/
http://poetryandgardening.blogspot.com/
Born an Army brat to a WWII and Korea vet, Dawn (Brander Tutela Reno) Langley began writing at a young age. Her essay on the Cuban missile crisis was published in a local newspaper, and since then, she has written hundreds of articles for newspapers and magazines, has published children's books, novels, nonfiction books on Native American and African American art, award-winning essays, short stories, and poetry.
As a novelist, she employs the skills she used as a journalist and conducts extensive research. Each story centers on a social dilemma, and she never writes a story about which she has no passion. The back story for each novel is on her Goodreads blog. https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...
She also blogs about excursions with her dog, Izzy, as well as one about growing up in the 1950s/60s and occasionally contributes to others' blogs (as well as to her own about gardening):
http://dawnrenolangley.wordpress.com
http://dawnrenolangley.blogspot.com/
http://poetryandgardening.blogspot.com/
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
February 22, 2024
This was an interesting, multi-faceted tale, with boundaries tested and crossed, and major upheavals in the lives of all the characters. I thought Dawn did a great job with the descriptions, but at times it felt kind of like an info dump when many of the characters were described almost at once. The story itself is compelling, very much driven by the characters. Cotton is an interesting character, and crosses the boundaries that are meant to exist between therapist and client with a kind of desperation, that speaks to her own trauma regarding the loss of a previous client. Her need to save the Prescotts is what really drew me in, and made me want to see not only how far she would go, but if she would succeed. I appreciate how different each member of the Prescott family is, they're not cookie cutter by any means. If you enjoy psychological fiction crossed with literary fiction, then you should absolutely grab this!
April 23, 2024
I absolutely loved Analyzing The Prescotts by Dawn Reno Langley! Being a retired counselor facing the challenges of working with emotionally disturbs teens for years brought this book close to my heart. I understand how difficult to leave the job at work separate it from one's homelife. Giving all to help others is a difficult task for some of us to let go, and impossible for the rest. This book is extremely intuitive, and I would suggest it to all of my reading friends who are interested in working with families and the science of psychology. It is very well written and allows us to explore all of our feelings about hard to face challenges.
January 4, 2024
Families
Three children and their mother seek help from an therapist to understand the changes in their father and family structure. This story is well thought out and researched. It shows five ways families struggle with each others roles and the challenges an therapist has to heal their hurt. Not all challenges can be won. But all are valid.
Three children and their mother seek help from an therapist to understand the changes in their father and family structure. This story is well thought out and researched. It shows five ways families struggle with each others roles and the challenges an therapist has to heal their hurt. Not all challenges can be won. But all are valid.
April 6, 2025
Typicall therapist - never give you practical advice about what to do. The bus started out good. The plot mine was interesting. I found out cotton have an anxiety disorder and that she ended up stalking the Prescott. Thanks just seemed to drag and then boom everything happened at once and then it was over. No comparison to in the morning parade waitress back for her best.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews