Lily King’s newest novel is a family saga spanning more than three decades that explores the relationship between Daley Amory and her father Gardiner, a man of the Fifties whose larger than life personality and severe drinking issues set the stage for the events that define his family’s life. It is a story told in an exquisitely personal style. I laughed, cringed, swore and cheered variously, and in the end I must say I enjoyed this book immensely.

Broken into three parts, the novel opens with 11-year-old Daley as she learns that her mother is packing up and leaving her father and their family home. Daley is left to traverse the complex territory of living between her two parents, struggling to earn her father’s affection. Within weeks, he replaces his wife with a new woman and her children making Daley a guest in her own home. Gardiner’s excessive drinking hangs like a pall.

The middle section opens with a going away party being thrown in Amory’s honor as she is readying to leave for a research/professorship at a prestigious West Coast university with her boyfriend. In the ensuing years, Daley has kept a safe distance from her father until her brother calls on the eve of her departure for California begging her to come care for Gardiner. Telling herself it will only be for a few days, Daley sidetracks her plans and heads home. In the final part, she willingly stays on to care for her father giving up her research position and the possibility of her new professional life. It is here that Daley is beautifully portrayed both as a daughter trying to do the right thing for her father, but also as an adult who sees the power within herself to help and heal. This is a powerful and well-executed story—not your everyday dysfunctional family portrait. King creates full-blown characters that the readers empathizes with and cares about. She poses complex questions: What is a daughter’s responsibility to her father? When does a parent ask too much of a child? It is the resolution of these issues that sets this book apart. ~Wendee