First published 1998
Daniel Considine, a seventy-year-old former tap dancer, has overstayed his welcome at his son's house after a year of freeloading. The thirty-eight-year-old son wants to move his father into Smiling Valley, a senior citizens home where Daniel's talkative Irish sister already lives. Daniel refuses to go. He abandoned his wife and infant son decades ago to pursue his dancing career around the world, and now he expects comfort in his old age. When his son pressures him to leave his top-floor bedroom, Daniel hatches a plan. He decides to fake a heart attack to manipulate his son into letting him stay. Daniel shares his scheme with three unlikely friends: an unlicensed doctor who treats bizarre medical cases, a priest who once dreamed of being a jockey, and a perpetually sad man whose stories about death somehow become hilarious. As Daniel prepares his deception, he must confront the consequences of a lifetime spent dancing away from responsibility.
Genres: literary-fiction, american-fiction, 20th-century, adult-fiction, family-drama
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: redemption, second-chance
Period: 20th-Century
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