Fictional fathers and forthcoming books

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Fictional Fathers

This month’s selection of books celebrates Father’s Day. Discover both delightful and dreadful dads in our hand-picked recommendations.

Fiction

The Curfew
T.M. Logan

It begins with a small white lie. The kind of lie you might tell to keep your child out of trouble - especially when he begs you to confirm that he came home early last night and has been up in his room ever since. And so you back him up. You give him an alibi. Instead of telling the truth: that he actually crept in at 3 a.m., clothes streaked with mud and bruises on his face. Fear in his eyes and a plea in his voice you've not heard for a long time. Please, Dad. But sometimes a small white lie can be the most dangerous thing in the world. Because five teenagers went into the woods last night. And only four came out.

Frank & Red
Matt Coyne

Sometimes, the friend you need is the one you never saw coming. Frank and Red are a mess. Frank is a grumpy old curmudgeon. A recluse whose only company is the 'ghost' of his dead wife, Marcie. He is estranged from his friends, his son, and the ever-changing world beyond his front gate. And then Red moves in next door. Red is six. A boy struggling to adjust to the separation of his mum and dad, a new school, and the demonic school bully. Red is curious, smart, he never stops talking, and he's got a trampoline. From the moment Red's blonde mop appears over the top of the fence that divides their two gardens, the unlikeliest of friendships is born. And it is a friendship that will change both of their lives forever.

The Lie Maker
Linwood Barclay

Jack is a talented but struggling author, barely scraping by on the royalties from his moderately successful first book. So when the U.S. Marshals approach him with a lucrative opportunity, he's in no position to turn them down. They're recruiting writers like Jack to create false histories for people in witness protection - people like Jack's father. The coincidence is astonishing to Jack at first, but he soon realises this may be a chance to find his dad.

The Last Goodbye
Tim Weaver

One day ago. On the night Tom Brenner and his nine-year-old son Leo visit the Seven Peaks theme park, they head straight for the ghost house. They go in. But they don't come out. Somewhere inside the ride, impossible as it seems, the two of them simply vanish. Forty years ago. When Rebekah Murphy was three, her mother walked out of their childhood home and never returned. Nearly four decades on, Fiona Murphy is still missing. But then, out of the blue, a letter arrives in the post. It says it's from Fiona. What is the connection? Missing persons investigator David Raker is hired by Rebekah to find out if the letter is actually from Fiona - and, if it isn't, why someone would pretend to be her. But this is a mystery whose secrets were never meant to be found. And as Raker starts to connect the dots from Fiona to the Brenners, he begins to realise he can't trust anyone.

The Holiday Escape
Heidi Swain

Her dream holiday is his everyday life. His dream holiday is her normal life. What happens when they collide? 'The Holiday Escape' is a story about bringing a holiday home - and what happens when what goes on on holiday comes back to bite you.

The Running Grave
Robert Galbraith

Private Detective Cormoran Strike is contacted by a worried father whose son, Will, has gone to join a religious cult in the depths of the Norfolk countryside.

The Universal Humanitarian Church is, on the surface, a peaceable organisation that campaigns for a better world. Yet Strike discovers that beneath the surface there are deeply sinister undertones, and unexplained deaths.

In order to try to rescue Will, Strike's business partner Robin Ellacott decides to infiltrate the cult and she travels to Norfolk to live incognito amongst them. But in doing so, she is unprepared for the dangers that await her there or for the toll it will take on her...

The Fine Art of Uncanny Prediction
Robert Goddard

Umiko Wada never set out to be a private detective, let alone become the one-woman operation behind the Kodaka Detective Agency. But so it has turned out, thanks to the death of her former boss, Kazuto Kodaka, in mysterious circumstances. Keen to avoid a similar fate, Wada chooses the cases she takes very carefully. A businessman who wants her to track down his son offers what appears to be a straightforward assignment. But she should have known that the simplest cases are never simple at all. Soon she finds herself pulled into a labyrinthine conspiracy with links to a 27-year-old investigation by her late employer and to the chaos and trauma of the dying days of the Second World War. As Wada uncovers a dizzying web of connections between then and now, it becomes clear that someone has gone to extraordinary lengths to keep the past buried. And the deeper Wada digs, the more danger she finds herself in.

The Carer
Deborah Moggach

James is getting on a bit and needs full-time help. So Phoebe and Robert, his middle-aged offspring, employ Mandy, who seems willing to take him off their hands. But as James regales his family with tales of Mandy's virtues, their shopping trips, and the shared pleasure of their journeys to garden centres, Phoebe and Robert sense something is amiss. Is this really their father, the distant figure who never once turned up for a sports day, now happily chortling over cuckoo clocks and television soaps? Then something happens that throws everything into new relief, and Phoebe and Robert discover that life most definitely does not stop for the elderly. It just moves onto a very different plane - changing all the stories they thought they knew so well.

Family Ties at the Second Chances Sweet Shop
Hannah Lynn

Life has finally settled down for Holly Berry, but when things start to go awry for those around her, will she be able to come to the rescue? Holly's family has always been there for her, and when her dad is made redundant she is only too happy to help out. But giving her father a job wasn't quite what she had in mind. And when she tries to involve herself with Ben's family, tensions rise quicker than one of her delicious cakes. Will family complications be too much for her blossoming relationship or is this the next step on the path to happy ever after?

My Father's House
Joseph O'Connor

September 1943: German forces occupy Rome. SS officer Paul Hauptmann rules with terror. The war's outcome is far from certain. An Irish priest, Hugh O'Flaherty, dedicates himself to helping those escaping from the Nazis. His home is Vatican City, the world's smallest state, a neutral, independent country within Rome where the occupiers hold no sway. Here Hugh brings together an unlikely band of friends to hide the vulnerable under the noses of the enemy. But Hauptmann's net begins closing in on the Escape Line and the need for a terrifyingly audacious mission grows critical. By Christmastime, it's too late to turn back.

Have a browse of our book lists

More fictional fathers

New Books

Everything you need to know about holds:
how to reserve a book

When you're looking for a specific book, it can be disappointing when it's not on the shelf at your local library.  Not to worry - our easy-to-use holds system has you covered.

• When you place a hold on a book, if we have a copy on the shelf at another of our libraries, we'll send it over to your local library for you to collect.
• If all of our copies are on loan, you will join a queue and when it's your turn, we'll send a copy over to your local library for you to collect.
• You'll receive an e-mail when your hold is ready to collect, and you have 13 days after the hold arrives to collect it.
• Holds are free for children, and a small charge is made for adults.  
• You can place up to 20 holds on your library account.
• You can place holds online - all you need is your library card number and password.
• Alternatively, our friendly staff are always happy to place holds for you.
  You can ask in the library, or e-mail us with your request at: libraries@cheshiresharedservices.gov.uk

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