by Brady Udall
First published 2010
Golden Richards stands in his failing construction office, surrounded by unpaid bills and broken promises. Four wives wait at home. Twenty-eight children demand his attention. His business crumbles while his sprawling family fractures into competing factions. The accidental death of his daughter and the stillbirth of his son have left Golden questioning everything he once believed about love and faith. As his polygamous household erupts in rivalry and rebellion, Golden finds himself drawn into an affair that could destroy what remains of his family. Brady Udall follows this overwhelmed patriarch through a midlife crisis that threatens to topple his entire world. Golden must navigate the impossible demands of his supersized family while confronting his own capacity for love, loss, and redemption.
Genres: fiction, literary-fiction, 21st-century, family-drama
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, unreliable-narrator
602 pages · Hardcover · W. W. Norton & Company
Content warnings: death