Here Lies a Father
"Cassidy's debut is affecting . . . Like the best coming-of-age novels, Here Lies a Father grounds its big concerns in the exquisite particulars of one person's life." --Literary Hub
When Ian Daly and his sister Catherine arrive for their wayward father's funeral in his small and desolate upstate New York hometown, a secret that was kept from them their entire lives emerges: their father Thomas abandoned two other families, leaving behind two furious wives and several children who never knew their father. Ian wants to know more of the truth, but his sister and mother want to preserve the carefully constructed myth they've created around who Thomas really was.
In the cold, lonely winter landscape of small-town New York, fifteen-year-old Ian sets out alone to learn the truth about his father's past and the families he left behind. Here Lies a Father examines the long-term effects shameful secrets have on a family, and how difficult it is for a young man to reconstruct his own sense of right and wrong, when every value and moral principle he was ever taught was based on a lie.
Earn by promoting books
Earn money by sharing your favorite books through our Affiliate program.
Become an affiliate
Mckenzie Cassidy is a writer, journalist, marketer, and professor living in Fort Myers, Florida. His work has appeared in the anthology Walk Hand in Hand into Extinction: Stories Inspired by True Detective, Flash Fiction Magazine, Florida Weekly, and in multiple newspapers throughout southwest Florida. He holds an MFA from Wilkes University and is a regular blogger for the Florida Writers Association. Here Lies a Father is his first novel. Learn more at mckenziecassidy.com.
Cassidy's engrossing debut . . . convincingly depicts the ways his sensitive, turbulent protagonist navigates the murky period between adolescence and adulthood. Cassidy's distinctive coming-of-age story will move readers.-- "Publishers Weekly"
Ian is a worthy literary cousin of Holden Caulfield, another kid with little tolerance for fakes and phonies and too much hard-won skepticism for his age. The grown-ups have let Ian down; now he must create himself.-- "Kirkus Reviews"
Keenly observed and beautifully written, Mckenzie Cassidy's Here Lies a Father follows a blue-collar Holden Caulfield through a weekend odyssey of family secrets, lies, and revelations. It's a novel for anyone who has ever wondered about their parents' pasts--I couldn't put it down.--Sara Pritchard, author of Help Wanted: Female
Here Lies A Father is a raw balance of beauty and sadness, both a compelling page-turner and a call to linger over each of Cassidy's exquisitely crafted sentences.--Libby Cudmore, author of The Big Rewind
