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Shortlisted for the CWA Gold Dagger Award and the European Union Prize for Literature 2019.
“His mistakes are my inheritance. The rotten blood he gave me is the blood I will pass on.”
For twenty years, Daniel Hardesty has lived with the emotional scars of a childhood trauma which he is powerless to undo. One August morning, Daniel and his estranged father Francis—a character of irresistible charm and roiling self-pity—set out on a road trip that seems a promise to salvage their relationship.
They have one shared interest, The Artifex, a children’s TV program where Fran works on set, and Daniel has been promised special access to the studio. But with every passing mile, the layers of Fran’s mendacity and desperation are exposed, pushing him to acts of violence that will define the rest of his son’s life.
The acclaimed author of The Ecliptic has written a novel of exceptional beauty about the bond between fathers and sons, and the invention and reconciliation of self—weaving a haunting story of lost innocence and love.
“A novel written from the gut, and with a correspondingly visceral power. A superbly unsettling account of trauma and cautious recovery.”—Sarah Waters, author of The Paying Guests
“A gorgeous and harrowing work.”—Emily St. John Mandel, author of Station Eleven and The Glass Hotel
★ “Harrowing and unforgettable.”—Booklist (Starred Review)
★ “A slow-burn thriller about a road trip that takes a shocking turn, and the lasting impact of trauma.”—Shelf Awareness (Starred Review)
“A resounding achievement . . . Rich, beautiful and written by an author of great depth and resource.”—Edward Docx, The Guardian
“Haunts the imagination long after the final page.”—The Independent on Sunday
“Full of suspense and beautifully written, superbly imagined and constructed . . . A terrifically gripping and playful book.”—The Sunday Times
“Exhilarating, earthy, cerebral, frank and unflinching . . . A masterfully paced and suspenseful read.”—The Independent
“With his third novel, Wood’s talent has burgeoned spectacularly. The book is a tremendous achievement, an unputdownable domestic thriller that is also subtle and moving … travelling well beyond his earlier fiction, Wood has produced a tour de force that marks his creative arrival.”—David Grylls, The Sunday Times
“Elegant and disturbing … this is a novel of expertly woven tension and frightening glimpses into the mind of the deranged other.”—John Burnside, The Guardian