Middle-aged book publisher Phillip Carver grew up in Tennessee, but now lives in New York City. He returns to his hometown when his sisters call, urging him to talk their octogenarian widowed father, George, out of marrying a much younger woman.

This journey is the incident that provides the title of Peter Taylor's 1986 novel, "A Summons to Memphis."

Carver moved away to escape an unhappy childhood. The sadness began when bad investment advice from Mr. Carver's business associate, Louis Shackelford, cost the family their fortune, forcing them to move from the cosmopolitan city of Nashville to the smaller, rougher Memphis of the early twentieth century. The death of their mother, Minta, and their father's habit of driving away his children's suitors made life difficult for the family. Phillip's sisters grew to be spinsters who dressed and lived like teenagers well past middle age, while their brother Georgie enlisted in the army and died fighting in World War II.

Taylor slowly reveals the family history through a series of flashbacks that allow the reader to see each character in a new light. The sisters' intervention feels like meddling until we understand the tension in which they grew up and the resentment they feel toward a father who sabotaged their romantic prospects and their chances at love. The family considered their move to Memphis a step down from the more refined Nashville. They left the world of fox hunts and debutante balls for a smaller home and a less civilized life in Memphis. The strain led directly to the despair and death of the mother. These traumas - both real and perceived - strained familial relationships.

"A Summons to Memphis" is a story of betrayal, trauma, understanding, forgiveness, and reconciliation. The book won the 1987 Pulitzer Prize for its well-developed characters and entertaining prose. While not a classic, this novel is an enjoyable read.