What problem touches millions of people and causes distress so profound that it can last a lifetime? What if no reliable professional guidance exists for this problem, so most people who suffer from it are on their own in finding solutions?This critically important issue, long overdue for serious book-length treatment, is family estrangement. Few problems are so widespread and so damaging - sometimes for decades and across generations - and yet the definitive popular, data-informed book about how families are broken and stay broken has yet to be published. Fault Lines will fill this gap, providing a fascinating, moving and above all practical treatment of this complex issue that will capture the interest of adults of all ages. Based on ten years of research and interviews with hundreds of family members, this book captures the eloquence of ordinary people facing family challenges that threaten their identity, health and well-being, relying on sources never before available, including a unique combination of rich, in-depth interviews, data from large-scale surveys and conversations with leading family therapists. Fault Lines is the first book to reveal successful strategies from people who have found ways to repair rifts or live peacefully with the consequences when nothing can be done - and the first book to offer hope to broken families which need it the most.