In "Family Life," Russell Banks first novel, he transforms the dramas of domesticity into the story of a royal family in a mythical contemporary kingdom. Life inside this kingdom includes the king (dubbed the Hearty or the Bluff ), who squeals angrily as is his wont; the queen, who, while pondering the mirror in her chambers, decides to write a book; and three adolescent princes who are, respectively, a superb wrestler, a fanatical sports car driver, and a sullen drunk.

Then there are the mysterious Green Man with a thing for princes; the Loon, who lives in a tree house designed by Christopher Wren; and a whole slew of murders, mayhem, coups, debauches, world tours, and love and loss and laughter.

A group of fathers meets each morning at a local Tribeca coffee shop after walking their children to school. The sound engineer looks uncomfortably like the guy on the sex offender posters around the neighborhood; the memoirist is on the verge of being outed for fabricating his experiences; and the chef puts his quest for the perfect quail-egg frittata before his children's well-being. Over the course of a single school year, we are privy to their secrets, passions, and hopes, and learn of their dreams deferred as they confront harsh realities about ambition, wealth, and sex. And we meet their wives and children, who together with these men are discovering the hard truths and welcome surprises that accompany family, marriage, and real estate at midlife.