Dad

After being summoned home by the news of his mother's heart attack, John Tremont is forced to confront his own middle age.

While John’s mother begins to make an astonishing recovery, his father deteriorates; having long ago handed over the running of his life to his domineering wife, he is unable to cope without her. With the help of his nineteen-year-old son, John assumes the role of carer. Before long, John finds himself caught between his son's feckless impatience to get on with his life and his father's heartbreaking willingness to let go, as both sons become trapped in the consuming, terrifying and repetitive world of looking after a dying loved-one.

Brilliantly capturing the relationship between sons and fathers with humour and poignancy, Dad is a story of the love that binds generations of fathers and sons.

Reviews

‘A great American novel’
– Philadelphia Inquirer

‘Brilliantly constructed, immediate and moving, painful and funny, and finally deeply cathartic’
– San Francisco Chronicle

‘Wharton is exceptionally gifted’
– John Fowles

About the author

William Wharton was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1925. During the Second World War, Wharton served in the US army, until an injury led to his discharge. In 1978, Wharton’s first novel, ‘Birdy’, was published to critical acclaim. Before his death in 2008, Wharton penned 8 further novels, and 3 memoirs. The most recent memoir, ‘Shrapnel’, was published for the first time in English in 2012.