“The Good Father is a book of real wisdom and profound heart.”
Published by: Doubleday Canada
Publication date: April 27, 2021
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On April 27, the Kingston WritersFest held a launch for The Good Father, with me in conversation with Lawrence Scanlan. Here is a link to view that event:
Kingston WritersFest Conversation with Larry Scanlan »
Every story has two sides, two perspectives. And when it comes to a relationship between a daughter and her father, separated first by divorce and then by both generational gaps and physical and emotional distance, those perspectives can colossally diverge.
Such is the case with Harry Bowes and his only daughter, Daphne. Harry is a mild mannered journalist turned teacher turned wine merchant who is content to putter around his home in Toronto eating things straight out of the fridge that both his doctor and his second wife, Elinor, would disapprove of, and procrastinate calling his daughter even though he senses something is amiss. Meanwhile, in Vancouver, Daphne seems intent on a course of nihilism, having gone from being a loving girl to a top student to a hostile young woman who is determined to destroy her life and relationships by self-medicating with drugs and alcohol. When a catastrophic event wrenches them out of their states, one of stasis and one of chaos, Harry and Daphne are forced to examine the ways in which their self-absorption has eroded their connection and discover whether a family’s bond is truly ironclad or if their damage is irreparable.
Told in alternating perspectives, The Good Father delivers a deeply satisfying and layered novel of love, perception, family and domesticity. Propelled by regret, compassion, frustration and comfort, this novel gives us Wayne Grady at the height of his powers.
Reviews of The Good Father:
And the Toronto Star reviewed The Good Father on April 25. Brett Josef Grubisic calls the novel “a study in imperfect love and staggeringly fateful choices.”
Ginny Ratsoy, in the Ormsby Review, writes that “The Good Father illuminates the misdeeds, miscommunication, and regrets in the relationships that define us in the 21st century.”
“Wayne Grady is a gift to Canada,” writes Andrew Armitage in the Owen Sound Sun Times. “The Good Father is a many-layered narrative of compassion, frustration and pleasure written by a best-selling author at his best. A riveting work of the imagination.”
See a list of author appearances related to this title during 2021.