Father of the Rain

By: Lily King

Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell

Winner of the New England Book Award for Fiction

From Lily King, beloved author of Writers and Lovers, Father of the Rain is a mesmerising novel about the complexity and power of familial love.

Gardiner Amory’s life is reeling – Nixon is being impeached, his wife is leaving him and his worldview is rapidly becoming outdated. His daughter, Daley, has spent her life negotiating her parents’ conflicting worlds: the liberal realm of her mother and the conservative, liquor-soaked life of her father. But when the pair divorces, Gardiner’s basest impulses are unleashed in a deluge, and the chasm between all of them widens.

As she reaches adulthood, Daley rejects her father’s prejudices and embarks on her own life – until Gardiner hits rock bottom. Returning home to help her father get sober, Daley risks everything, including a chance at love, in an attempt to repair a trust that was broken long ago . . .

'A gripping epic about a father and daughter that plumbs the dark side of a family riven by addiction and mental illness' - Entertainment Weekly

Critic reviews

A gripping epic about a father and daughter that plumbs the dark side of a family riven by addiction and mental illness.

Brilliant . . . An absorbing, insightful story written in cool, polished prose right to the last conflicted line.

Spellbinding . . . You won't be able to stop reading.

King is a beautiful writer, with equally strong gifts for dialogue and internal monologue.

Haunting, incisive . . . brilliant.

Luminous . . . Uplifing . . . Fresh, with vividly drawn characters.

Fierce.

A big, powerful punch of a novel.

Richly satisfying. (Richard Russo)