We Are the Brennans

Tracey Lange’s novel We Are the Brennans is a family drama published in 2021 by Celadon Books. The novel focuses on the loving but flawed Brennan family, whose interpersonal dramas and dark family secrets come out after the only daughter Sunday Brennan gets into a drunk-driving accident in Los Angeles and returns to her family home in West Manor, New York, at her brother’s request. The novel tackles several themes, including The Importance of Family Unity, The Negative Impact of Secrets and Lies, and Redemption and Forgiveness as a Path to Healing. Lange’s upbringing as an Irish American growing up in New York and her Irish immigrant parents’ stories inspired her novel’s New York setting and tight-knit Irish American family.

This study guide uses the 2021 hardcover print edition.

Content Warning: This novel contains drunk driving and themes of trauma and pregnancy loss. It also includes a couple of uses of an ableist slur and a disrespectful term (which this study guide will not include) against an intellectually disabled character.

Plot Summary

Sunday Brennan lives a quiet, lonely life in Los Angeles after leaving New York five years prior. She attends a party for a young woman she does not know to distract herself but ends up drinking too much. She tries to drive home due to rideshare delays, and in her rush and inebriated state, she crashes her car. In West Manor, New York, her older brother Denny receives a call from an LA doctor about the accident. He is surprised because it is so unlike her. Denny has his own struggles opening another location of the family pub, Brennan’s, which he co-owns with his best friend and Sunday’s ex-fiancé, Kale Collins. Furthermore, his wife, Theresa, has left him and taken their daughter Molly.

Denny goes to LA to see Sunday in the hospital. Once she is discharged, Denny convinces her to return to West Manor. Her Irish Catholic family—–including her younger brothers Jackie and Shane, her father Mickey, her aunt Clare, and her cousin Grail—are happy to see her. Sunday settles back into managing the family calendar and helps Denny at the pub. Mickey likes having Sunday home, and upon learning that she and Jackie have a secret, he becomes determined to discover it and keep Sunday from leaving again.

One night, Kale goes to Brennan’s and finds Sunday working there. He feels fond upon seeing her again, which makes him feel disloyal to his wife, Vivienne. He decides to focus on Vivienne and their son, Luke, but keeps thinking about Sunday. Later, Denny meets with his former classmate Billy Walsh, who loaned him money for the restaurant. He needs another month to repay the debt, and Billy agrees. Denny then hires a lawyer, Michael Eaton, to file the new location’s business license and help him if Theresa divorces him. Distressed by this, Sunday talks to Theresa, who reveals that Mickey’s truck accident and Shane’s anxiety attack gave Molly nightmares. She also reveals that Denny has not talked to her lately. Sunday understands this and leaves.

Sunday and Kale argue about Sunday’s move to LA. Despite this, they still share an emotional connection, which unsettles Vivienne and makes Kale feel guilty. They also sense that Denny’s financial troubles are worse than he says, which drives Jackie to confront Denny, who reveals they owe almost $70,000. Sunday and Jackie plan to help Denny fix the pub’s finances. However, Sunday shuts down upon learning Billy Walsh is Denny’s investor. After a couple days, she decides to tell Denny and Kale her secret.

At the pub with Jackie, Sunday tells Denny and Kale that while Denny, Kale, and Theresa were in Ireland, Sunday and Grail had drinks at the Penny Whistle Pub. After Grail left, Sunday had another drink, and the bartender, Billy Walsh, invited her over to look at photographs of Mickey. There, he tried to force himself on her. She rejected his advances and tried to leave, but he grabbed her. When she threatened to tell her family, he let her go, and she fell down the stairs. Jackie found her and took her to the hospital, where she learned she had been pregnant and had a miscarriage.

Denny drives to confront Billy but changes his mind and talks to Theresa, telling her everything. Theresa agrees to help him until he pays the debt. Kale criticizes Jackie for keeping Sunday’s secret and letting her leave, but Jackie insists it was not his secret to tell. Kale asks why Sunday did not tell him, but Vivienne interrupts, reminding him to pick up Luke before leaving to visit her mother. After Vivienne visits her mother, she goes to a job interview and visits the Brennan house. She tells Sunday that she helped Kale out of his depression and that Sunday needs to leave him alone. Sunday thanks her for helping Kale.

Sunday rebuilds her life in West Manor. She also contacts Michael Eaton, who makes a deal with Billy Walsh’s lawyer: They will pay him $20,000 immediately if Billy leaves New York. Billy arrives at the pub and tells her that her father had an affair with his mother. He then admits to damaging the pipes at the new location. When he blames Sunday for her miscarriage, she pulls Mickey’s gun on him, scaring him into leaving. Denny and Jackie are shocked by Billy’s statement about their father but realize it is true.

On opening night, Mickey confronts Denny about his debt, and Denny admits he owes Billy money. Mickey warns Denny that Billy is dangerous, but Denny says he already knows. The Brennan’s restaurant’s first night is a success. Later, Kale drives Shane and Sunday home. Kale again asks why she did not tell him about the miscarriage, and Sunday admits she felt guilty and feared he would blame her. He holds her as she cries. They kiss until Kale stops, saying he must commit to his marriage. He leaves. The following day, he gives the money to Michael Eaton and goes to the pub for a drink. There, Denny tells Jackie and Kale that Grail is coming to talk to them, Sunday, and Vivienne.

Grail reveals that Billy Walsh is dead. When Grail mentions the loan, Vivienne chastises Denny for accepting a loan from Billy when the town knows he hated the Brennans because of Mickey’s affair. She angrily rebukes the Brennans, and she and Kale leave. Later, Jackie reveals that Mickey’s gun is missing. At the house, they talk more but stop once their father wakes up. Mickey has a cup of coffee before returning to his room. He then looks inside the compartment hidden in his floor and recalls firing Frank Walsh due to his alcoholism. He also remembers his affair with Lynn. They ended their affair once Billy found out, but Mickey still helped Lynn and checked on Billy until her death. He prays for forgiveness and tells Sunday to take hold of happiness in life. He then leaves for Clare’s house.

Later, Sunday sits on a bench in Hollis Park. Eventually, Kale joins her. Earlier that day, Kale and Vivienne visited Manor Hills to prepare for their move, but Kale ultimately confessed that he cannot be with Vivienne anymore. After Vivienne accuses him of abandoning his family, Kale says he will still support her, but she tells him to leave. Before he goes, Kale tells Luke that he will always be there for him.

Kale reveals all this to a shocked Sunday. Together, they return to the Brennan house, where the family eats ice cream. Shane reveals that he helped Mickey park his truck two nights ago. Mickey returns home and is happy to see everyone together at the table. After he and Shane go to bed, Jackie reveals that he found the gun in the floor compartment in Mickey’s room. The four realize that Mickey killed Billy Walsh. Denny concludes that they will figure out a plan. If they must, they will protect their father because he is part of their family.