From extreme ends of the United States, Randa Jennings and Katie Harder find they have jointly inherited the very old and unique Venable Opera House. They are in a quandary as to why it's been left to them; two women who are complete opposites and have never before met. Katie is a talented writer and has the ambition to become a writer of novels and theater plays. Both are assuming they are in some way related to the Venable family.

Katie and Randa arrive in Georgia for the reading of the will. Randa's daughter is a computer whiz and thrilled with the history and story of the opera house after searching on the Internet. In checking the genealogy sites, Susan finds information of the strong line of Venable women, which reveals their struggle to keep the opera house within the family. Deep secrets held by the Venable women of their drastic and surprising actions to keep the struggling opera house in operation for the past 100 years are revealed.

Randa is a talent agent and Katie, being the daughter of an actress, writes episodes for the TV series in which her mother performed prior to her death. Against their better judgments, they have a reluctant desire to restore the old opera house rather than sell it to be destroyed.

There are many surprises throughout FAMILY ACTS of the history of the opera house and the lineage connected with it. Not only are you involved in the current happenings, but also taken back to each generation and the secrets they hold, which makes the characters human and gives the story depth. It's an enjoyable, well-written novel that easily kept my interest.