Shadow Ranch by Jo-Ann Mapson

The impact of four-year-old Spencer's death has rocked the Carpenter family. For Lainie, the loss of her son is unbearable, and now both her marriage and her very sanity are threatened. Her guitar-obsessed, slacker brother Russell isn't doing very well either, and his own love relationship is rapidly coming undone. Then there's Bop, her fierce and crusty 80-year-old grandfather. When he falls in love with a retired stripper, their earthy romance touches each of the Carpenters' lives in unexpected ways.

Jo-Ann Mapson crafts a rich and evocative tale of love, loss, and how they affect several generations of a Southern California family in this, her most successful novel yet. "The Carpenters are as convincing and as touching a family as we are likely to find on the written page".--"Boston Globe".