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The moving story of an orphaned girl named Harvey and the troubled uncle who raises her - an unforgettable tale of loss and redemption.
At the age of six, a little girl named Harvey learns that her parents have died in a car accident. As she struggles to understand, a kindly social worker named Wanda introduces her to her only living relative: her uncle Jason, a disabled felon with a violent past and a criminal record. Despite his limitations - and his resistance - Wanda follows a hunch and cajoles Jason into becoming her legal guardian, convinced that each may be the other's last chance.
Moving between past and present, Father's Day weaves together the story of Harvey's childhood and her life as a young woman in Paris, as she awaits her uncle's arrival for a Father's Day visit. To mark the occasion, Harvey has planned a series of gifts for Jason - all leading to a revelation she believes will only deepen their bond.
With extraordinary empathy and emotional impact, the award-winning writer Simon Van Booy has crafted a simple yet luminous novel of loss and transcendence, second chances and forgiveness: a breakthrough work from one of our most gifted chroniclers of the human heart.
"Starred Review. [Van Booy] creates refreshing, humorous, yet poignant childhood milestones that the two reach with emotional honesty." - Publishers Weekly
"The tone often borders on the saccharine, and, though their relationship deepens, the characters don't. Despite this, there are moments of genuine emotion. Jason quits smoking for Harvey's sake, but when he won't share his nicotine gum, she's hurt. "That's so selfish," she says. "You never think about me." A sentimental story of the bond between father and child." - Kirkus
"With fine, nuanced prose and much tenderness, Booy guides this unlikely father-daughter pair into a beautiful maturity, showing us with great heart what it really means to be a family." - Elizabeth Crane, author of The History of Great Things
This information about Father's Day was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Photo: Ken Browar
Simon Van Booy is the award-winning, bestselling author of more than a dozen books for adults and children, including The Illusion of Separateness and The Presence of Absence. Simon is the editor of three volumes of philosophy and has written for The New York Times, The Financial Times, The Washington Post, and the BBC. His books have been translated into many languages and optioned for film. Raised in rural North Wales, he currently lives in New York where he is also a book editor and a volunteer E.M.T. crew chief.
Link to Simon Van Booy's Website
Name Pronunciation
Simon Van Booy: van boo-ee
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