Families and their complex dynamics have long provided ample subject matter for novelists. Debra Oswald, Holly Ringland and Sophie Green talk to Roanna Gonsalves about their latest novels, which masterfully capture the emotion, hardship and joy of family life in unique and compelling ways. Debra’s The Whole Bright Year captures the intensity of responsibility felt by a mother to protect her daughter; Holly’s Lost Flowers of Alice Hart movingly chronicles a young woman’s coming of age and her family’s dark secrets; and Sophie’s The Inaugural Meeting of the Fairvale Ladies Book Club vividly evokes the challenges of family life in Australia’s Top End.