The second novel to be published in America by widely acclaimed Irish
author Anne Enright, The Wig My Father Wore is a spry, hilarious novel
about parents, love, religion, and the absurdities of them all. Grace is
a young Dubliner who works on a television show called Love Quiz. Her
father is going benignly senile, but her life otherwise seems fairly
solid. When Stephen arrives on her doorstep, however, Grace has no idea
what she's in for. Stephen explains that he is an angel, a former bridge
builder who committed suicide in 1934. He has been sent back to earth
(as all suicides are) to guide lost souls. Grace does not take this
personally at first, but eventually she has to face the idea that things
are not so easy, and that her greatest intimacy is with this
supernatural creature. As Grace begins to take stock of her life and the
prospect of caring enough about something to fight for it, The Wig My
Father Wore takes us on a moving, surreal romp through Catholicism,
parents, and the reclamation of love from the twin modern evils of
cynicism and the detritus of pop culture.