Winner of the 2016 Saboteur Award for Anthologies
This anthology has a single theme that is reflected in the book title - fatherhood.
The stories are told mostly from the standpoint of dads but occasionally from the standpoint of the child. We start the collection with 3 generations when a step-father, about to become a father himself, is always conferring with his own dead father.
Later we meet the son who idolises his disco rapping father and is desperate to impress and engage with him.
In "The Jim Hangovers" we meet a father who talks to his child at feeding time and tells of his misspent youth. And the very moving tale of a widower who takes his children back to his childhood town to raise them after the death of his wife.
These short précis are my attempt to show the hugely differing approaches the authors have taken to meet the broad subject of the title of this collection. You may find many of the stories pluck at your heart strings but all of them will set you thinking. As a father myself I found myself able to identify with a lot of these characters while others... well you know such folk exist but you can't understand them any better for reading about them.
This most enjoyable book may help you prepare for fatherhood or understand fathers better but apart from making you think about the situations these fathers find themselves in you will find it most compelling. And with Father's Day just around the corner...
Publisher: Tangent Books
Genre: Short Stories, Adult
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