Shortlisted for the CWA Gold Dagger Award and the European Union Prize
for Literature 2019.
"His mistakes are my inheritance. The rotten blood he gave me is the
blood I will pass on."
For twenty years, Daniel Hardesty has lived with the emotional scars of
a childhood trauma which he is powerless to undo. One August morning,
Daniel and his estranged father Francis--a character of irresistible
charm and roiling self-pity--set out on a road trip that seems a promise
to salvage their relationship.
They have one shared interest, The Artifex, a children's TV program
where Fran works on set, and Daniel has been promised special access to
the studio. But with every passing mile, the layers of Fran's mendacity
and desperation are exposed, pushing him to acts of violence that will
define the rest of his son's life.
The acclaimed author of The Ecliptic has written a novel of
exceptional beauty about the bond between fathers and sons, and the
invention and reconciliation of self--weaving a haunting story of lost
innocence and love.
"A novel written from the gut, and with a correspondingly visceral
power. A superbly unsettling account of trauma and cautious
recovery."--Sarah Waters, author of The Paying Guests