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Acid-drop sharp and laced with compassion, this wry look at modern fatherhood from the author of Kill Your Friends finds the lives of two very different dads brought together by unexpected tragedy
'Very funny' Guardian
'Inkwell black and surprisingly tender' ADAM KAY
'Outrageous' MARINA HYDE
'A blockbusting explosion of toxic masculinity' Spectator
In a busy maternity ward, first-time father Dan meets Jada, a dad welcoming his fifth - no, sixth? - child into the world. But 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.
When a tragedy occurs, Dan and Jada's worlds are brought closer than either could ever have imagined - close enough that it could mean destruction for both of them . . .
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
Niven is on fine form, inventive and excruciatingly funny, but beneath his darkly comic prose lurks a hitherto unseen tenderness - Mail on Sunday
The novel is laugh out loud funny at points but its serious intentions are many. Inequality, criminality, substance abuse, class, social and economic horizons and even housing are themes which linger under the surface, alongside the numbing, dizzying forces unleashed by grief. Niven broaches all these things nimbly though.[with] smart, funny, laser-focussed prose - Herald
A hilarious and harrowing piece of brilliance - LUCY MANGAN
The Fathers continues to examine tough subjects that aren't often explored from a male perspective, like fertility and grief - Sunday Post
An acid-drop sharp exploration of modern fatherhood - iPaper
Just when you think Niven couldn't possibly be more outrageous, he floors you with tenderness. And then makes you howl with laughter. He is the most reliable treat - MARINA HYDE
Refreshing and memorable. In the midst of our hard, bleak world, Niven manages to find humour and tenderness, gleefully driving his bulldozer down the middle of the road - CHARLIE HIGSON
So many books are described as hilarious and so very few are. But Niven knows his comedy, and he treads where others fear to go . . . When the writing's this good, and this urgent, I'll take the swagger, too. Indeed, and I can barely believe it myself, these are some of the passages of The Fathers I enjoyed most of all - MARIANNE LEVY, iPaper
[Niven's] best novel yet - SARAH PINBOROUGH
Parenting, class and male mental health are tackled with dark humour - Grazia
Praise for John Niven: 'Riotous and yet bracingly moving - Observer
The writing is first rate, without announcing how good it is - Spectator
Niven is a tremendous storyteller - iPaper
There's nothing faster, sadder or funnier than John Niven on men - CAITLIN MORAN
Niven's writing is so buzzy and fresh, it's still wet on the page - Evening Standard
Vivid, visceral, brilliantly funny in places, dispensing sharp punches to the gut in others - Guardian
Probably the most exciting British writer working today - DANNY WALLACE