Man and Boy

Man and Boy, a book by Tony Parsons, is great reading. With his usual engaging style, Parsons superbly describes how a foolish one night stand shatters a happy family, the spiral of events and emotions leading to rock bottom and the slow path to recovery. The rendering of the father-son relationship central to the novel is absolutely endearing. If only for this, I highly recommend it to all fathers.

Synopsis

A fabulously engaging and exciting novel about a man who has to learn about life and love the hard way. Harry Silver has it all. A successful job in TV, a gorgeous wife, a lovely child. And in one moment of madness, he chucks it all away. Man and Boy is the story of how he comes to terms with his life and achieves a degree of self-respect, bringing up his son alone and, gradually, learning what words like love and family really mean. It is very well written, pacy, funny, and heart-breakingly moving.