Three Generations of Women, and the Traps Each One Tried to Escape

Three women. Three generations. Two continents. And one family that just can't seem to escape trouble.

That's the sweeping canvas of UGLY, David Michael Slater's big, bold, darkly funny novel. It's a sprawling tragicomedy packed with remarkable characters and unforgettable scenes, written in the grand tradition of John Irving, and at nearly 500 pages, it's the kind of book you sink into and don't want to leave.

The story begins with Charlotte Adams, who escapes a destitute orphanage in prewar London. It should be a rescue. Instead, she lands in the lavish but equally treacherous home of one of England's wealthiest families, trading one kind of danger for another.

Her daughter, Margot Kenworthy, makes her own escape, fleeing to America's heartland, where she takes refuge in a dangerously misunderstood finishing school.

And Margot's daughter, Cleo Portman, heads to Hollywood, where she takes on the predatory modeling business in shocking and unprecedented ways.

Across roughly a century, each woman tries to break free of the constraints placed on her, only to find new ones waiting. That's the brilliant engine of the novel. Every institution these women encounter promises something: safety, refinement, fame, opportunity. And every one comes with a hidden price. Slater uses their stories to explore the systemic obstacles women have faced across generations, and the resilience, rebellion, and sheer nerve it takes to fight back in a world that keeps underestimating them.

Multigenerational family sagas have a special power, and it's worth thinking about why. When a novel follows grandmothers, mothers, and daughters, it lets readers see patterns that no single life can reveal. We watch how the choices and wounds of one generation shape the next, how certain struggles repeat in new forms, and how each woman both inherits her family's story and tries to rewrite it. Some of literature's most beloved books work this way, from One Hundred Years of Solitude to Pachinko. UGLY brings that grand structure together with a sharp comic sensibility, which makes it both thought-provoking and hugely entertaining.

The comparison to John Irving is apt. Like Irving, Slater loves big casts of eccentric characters, vivid set pieces, and stories that swing wildly between hilarious and heartbreaking, sometimes on the same page. The humor in UGLY is dark and often outrageous, but it always serves something serious: a clear-eyed look at sexism, power, and the ways women have been exploited, and the ways they've refused to be.

David Michael Slater is a remarkably versatile writer with nearly thirty titles to his name, spanning books for children, teenagers, and adults, several of which have been in development for television and film. He teaches in Reno, Nevada, where he lives with his wife and son. Readers may know his other novels with Library Tales Publishing, including the 1980s coming-of-age story Fun & Games and the historical fantasy The Vanishing. UGLY may be his most ambitious book yet.

This is a perfect pick for readers who love epic family sagas, book clubs looking for a novel with plenty to discuss, and anyone who enjoys dark comedy with real depth. An unforgettable read, it's a breakneck rollercoaster of a ride.

UGLY by David Michael Slater is available now in paperback and hardcover.