Estate

To My Once Darling Child

By: J. Andrew Shelley

Narrated by: J. Andrew Shelley

Every family has its ghosts. For Timothy, they rise up when he becomes executor of his Mom’s estate, the one she insisted would be “easy and kinda fun to manage.” Arriving in Atherton, North Carolina, he learns that the gifts from the grave will not inspire last-minute love. Instead, the Last Will and Testament might fracture the family he has left.

Kirkus Reviews describes Estate as an “oddly enjoyable novel" and rates it a GET IT!

Estate speaks to anyone navigating the unfinished business of family, offering rare understanding, wit, and critical guidance. It is a novel of transitions: between generations, from love to resentment and back again, from a murky past toward a brighter future. Reality fiction at its best. Unflinching, compassionate, demanding, but true.

©2025 Tensile, LLC (P)2025 Tensile, LLC

Critic reviews

PenCraft Book Awards—2025 Runner-Up Winner
New York Book Festival—2025 Honorable Mention Book

“Shelley proves himself to be an exceptional novelist…”—Kirkus Reviews

very good book learned a lot about the Estates will

I have nothing bad to say about this book or the writer I'm looking forward to his new book