by Paul Gervais
First published 1992
Sam watches his mother pace the kitchen again, waiting for a father who never comes home. His childhood unfolds in a house where his mother's moods shift like weather and his father exists only as empty promises and missed dinners. Sam learns to read the signs of his mother's restlessness and the silence that follows his father's broken commitments. As he moves through adolescence into adulthood, Sam carries the weight of these early lessons about love and abandonment. He observes how his parents' choices shape not just their own lives but his understanding of what family means. The story follows Sam's journey from a boy trying to make sense of adult failures to a man who must decide what kind of person he will become despite the chaos that raised him.
Genres: literary-fiction, coming-of-age, contemporary, family-drama
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: coming-of-age, family-drama
Period: 20th-century, 21st-century
224 pages · Paperback · Perennial
Content warnings: emotional-abuse