Penelope Lively’s novel, Family Album, can be seen as a novel that portrays the “perfect” family. “Allersmead” is the name of the huge family home, housing all six children of Alison and Charles Harper and the au pair, Ingrid. In the opening chapters of this novel, the reader perceives the Harpers as a picture-perfect and typical family. Alison is the home-loving and overpowering mother who will do anything it takes to have the perfect family, at least on the surface. As the book continues, however, it is revealed that Charles is actually a preoccupied father who is only concerned about his writing, leaving Alison in charge of the household and all six children. It is not a happy family, as the book reveals, and there are darker and deeper mysteries and flaws within the family than it appears. The book changes between the present time, where all children are grown adults and have individual, separate, and isolating lives from the rest of the family, and past events, which reveals how much Alison tried to make her family perfect, despite underlying and anything-but-perfect truths. As the chapters alternate between the past and present, the past events act as a “snapshot” or insight into how much Alison strived for domestic perfection. The syntax of the sentences and the shortness and abruptness of them also act as snapshots in the story because of their clarity and neatness, which is how the family is perceived.

The first chapter that takes the reader into the past is one that describes Gina’s eighth birthday party. Every detail of the party is planned by Alison, but “usually, when it is a someone’s birthday Dad stays in his study with the door shut.” This is the first indication to the reader that Charles is not a big part of the family, and it is not as close-knit as Alison makes it out to be. At Gina’s birthday party, Gina falls and gets a head injury as she searches for a gold coin for the treasure hunt. The party is over, and Alison is devastated that everything did not go as planned. As Gina is in the ambulance on the way to the hospital, “Alison weeps. This is not happening. Things like this do not happen. Not to this family, not to her.” On the other hand, Charles is angry at Alison because she hid the coin where Gina fell and got injured. This clearly indicates that the relationship between Alison and Charles is incongruous, and the true family identity begins to unravel.