Families, by their very nature, are under pressure, because they contain differences, protectiveness and freedom, connection, handing down and separation.

How can we cope with departures and arrivals? How do we hand things down and receive them? What is the importance of blood ties?

This essay address all of the issues that every member of a family will be confronted with at some point. It discusses sharing both tasks and property, hierarchical relationships, protection and violence, as well as both new ways to make families and the enduring nature of traditional structures.

Intertwining private memories, pop culture, classic philosophical references and recent sociological studies, Sophie Galabru enables everyone to understand their family bonds and to deal with them better.