When Henry Shaw accidentally stumbles into his mother's e-mailbox, he learns more than he could have imagined: his beloved mother is having a passionate affair with a violin maker. As the affair continues Henry can only watch its consequences, and wait for his father -- an amiable history teacher -- and his younger sister -- who's obsessed with Civil War reenactments -- to find out. And, of course, his discovery also complicates his own first love.

Written with all the intelligence and empathy that have distinguished Hamilton's writing, Disobedience is exceptional -- a meditation on the nature of love and disobedience that is both endearing and thought-provoking.