I have been thinking about this question since I finished the novel, and I still don't have a decent response. I am not sure that much positive comes out here about family life. Iris was good to take responsibility for the girls and attempt to create a family for them, but did that really work? Iris is able, near the end of the novel, to begin a new family for herself, after both girls are gone, but is that a family? The sisters were connected more early on - but that connection broke down and it took a long time for "the family" to really look for Lucy. Maybe the most that comes out of this with regard to family is that it becomes who you choose it to be, not necessarily who you are born into. Even this doesn't work for me. Sorry....