The Fathers
John Niven
Available as Hardback, Downloadable audio, eBook
A hilarious and heart-breaking account of fatherhood, marriage, fertility, parenting, grief, class and masculinity from the Sunday Times bestselling author of O Brother
FROM THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF O BROTHER
In a busy maternity ward, first-time father Dan meets Jada, a dad welcoming his fifth – no, sixth? – child into the world. Dan and Jada come from very different places: both called Glasgow. Dan is a successful TV writer with a townhouse in the West End and a shiny Tesla ready to drive his wife and baby home. Jada is a hustling, small-time criminal who is already planning how to separate Dan from some of the luxuries Jada has never been able to enjoy in his tiny flat in a Brutalist sixties council block.
Both men find that the birth of their sons has fired their ambitions. Dan plans to walk away from his saccharine TV success and finally knuckle down to writing that novel he always felt he had in him. While, for Jada, it’s the opportunity for one last get-rich-quick scheme – ripping off a local airport. When a tragedy occurs, their worlds are brought closer than either could ever have imagined – close enough that it could mean destruction for both of them …
“A class satire with grit … Very funny … A comic melodrama that’s never dull”
guardian
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“Without losing any of the propulsive, sweary energy or outrageous comedy of his early work, Niven has added real, lingering depth to his fiction. It’s this new richness of heart that makes The Fathers such a blockbusting explosion of toxic masculinity. A week after finishing it, I still feel my ears ringing as I wait for the smoke to clear”
spectator
“Bitingly funny, inkwell black and surprisingly tender”
Adam Kay, Author Of This Is Going To Hurt
“Like the bastard son of Irvine Welsh and Martin Amis, Niven manages to appal, amuse, terrify and make your heart ache in the same paragraph”
Jojo Moyes
“A witty account of parenthood and masculinity”
independent
John Niven
John Niven is the author of twelve books including Kill Your Friends, The Second Coming and Straight White Male. He has written a memoir, O Brother, and as a screenwriter his credits include The Trip, Kill Your Friends and How to Build a Girl.