Absent Fathers: A Millennium Trilogy

Absent Fathers is a satirical weave of three interconnected stories examining the fate of Generation X set against the complicated politics surrounding the war on drugs, teenage prostitutes and the meaning of success. Irreverent and nihilistic where fatalism battles hope, it is the story of a young man who searches for his father to find himself. Danny Fortune is in jail in Toronto at the start of the new millennium, passing the time logging entries into his journal. He has returned home to visit his sister, while avoiding his overbearing mother; and also to uncover clues as to his absent father who went missing seven years earlier. These clues are uncovered in letters written to his best friend 'Uncle Marc', a well-traveled journalist who Danny idolizes. As an aspiring writer himself, he has spent the last few years traveling to find inspiration. A draft copy of a novel written by his father provides more clues. The final and disturbing piece of evidence is revealed in Uncle Marc’s journal.

The trilogy falls under three titles: ‘Notes from a Jailhouse Floor’; ‘TheWhores of Eden’; and ‘Zambonis of the Amazon’. ‘Notes’ includes entries into Danny’s diary as well as letters written from Gabriel Fortune to his best friend, Marc Bryant, and are interleaved throughout the book. ‘Zambonis’ is a novella supposedly penned by Gabriel which reads like an autobiography and stands on its own as an aside but still offering clues leading to discovery. ‘Whores’ extends Gabe’s letter writing to Marc but also begins a correspondence between the two which leads to their eventual reconvening in a proverbial den of iniquity. Throughout the book, an ongoing narration by Danny develops his character and examines the complicated relationship he has with his family and the love and trust he and his sister share for each other. Primarily, however, the narrative assists in maintaining a clear connection between the three methods of telling a complicated story.