The Good Parents

From the author of Gilgamesh - longlisted for the Orange Prize - comes a novel of loss and longing that goes right to the heart of the struggle to belong.

Maya de Jong, an eighteen-year-old country girl, moves away from home to live in the city. Here she begins an affair with her boss, whose wife is dying of cancer. But when Maya's parents, Toni and Jacob, arrive to stay with her, they are told by her housemate that Maya has gone away and no one knows where she is.


As Toni and Jacob search for their daughter in the city, everything in their lives is thrown in doubt. They recall the dreams and ideals, the betrayals and choices of their youth - choices with unexpected and irrevocable consequences. As if, to bring Maya back, they must return to their own pasts.