First published 2007
Sam Pollit believes himself a devoted father, surrounding himself with his children's voices and laughter. He feeds on their attention and admiration, spinning grand dreams and elaborate stories that mask a deeper selfishness. His wife Henny sees through his performance. She recognizes the ego that drives his every interaction with their large brood. The family struggles with financial pressures that Sam's fantasies cannot solve. Henny grows increasingly isolated as Sam claims the children's loyalty for himself. She understands the gap between Sam's self-image as a loving patriarch and the reality of his narcissistic need for worship. The children become pawns in a marriage where love has curdled into mutual contempt. Stead exposes the dynamics that can poison family life when parents use children to wage war against each other. The novel reveals how domestic relationships can become battlegrounds where the most vulnerable suffer the consequences of adult failures.
Genres: literary-fiction, domestic-fiction, 20th-century, family-drama
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: domestic-conflict, unreliable-narrator
15 pages · Audio CD · Blackstone Audiobooks
Content warnings: abuse, domestic-violence, emotional-abuse