When a poor teenager reads about the opulent world his mother grew up in, he sets out to capture the life that has been denied to him. Detailing the rise and fall of his wealthy relatives, Benson Family Secrets spans from the late sixties to the early 2000s. Part family saga, part coming of age tale, it is a domestic nightmare in the same vein as Richard Yates' "Revolutionary Road," Judith Guest's "Ordinary People," and Tom Perrotta's "Little Children."

The book tells the story of Taylor Benson, an eighth-grader from New Jersey who comes across his single mother's childhood writings. When he's taken under the wing of a rich aunt and uncle, Taylor sees firsthand the high society she's been exiled from. Once accepted at his cousin's lavish country club, he glimpses a future filled with everything he's ever wanted. But when he unearths his family's sordid past, he must decide for himself if money is really all that matters.