Father Figure by Ann Widdecombe
When Ann Widdecombe made her fiction debut with The Clematis Tree her insights into what happens when a marriage is under stress were widely remarked upon. In her new novel she returns to this contemporary theme with a situation that has become frighteningly familiar to all too many couples. Jason Kirk is a thirty-two year old teacher who believes he is happily married until he returns home one day to find that his wife has left him, taking their two young children with her. Suddenly Jason finds the role of father denied to him as he is separated from his children and reduced to the role of visitor. The law is weighted against him and his wife produces a series of excuses to withhold contact with Jake, eight and Leah, three. Jason, who had wanted to bring his children up to maturity on a daily basis, not only has to face the pain of this loss but endures the misery of persecution by the Child Support Agency. He discovers he is not alone, that among friends and colleagues are others enduring the same situation. Jason's fate is a fact of twenty-first century living, where, so surveys show, fifty per cent of all men now beginning families will not be living with their children by the time they reach the age of eighteen. Just as in The Clematis Tree when Ann Widdecombe was commended in particular for her portrayal of parents with a profoundly handicapped child so in Father Figure - an enthralling, thought-provoking novel of modern fatherhood - her message is simple: men are human beings too.
Widdecombe tells the story with rattling good pace and creates credible and sympathetic characters-- Frank Kane * THE OBSERVER *
authentic, distressing and unexpectedly touching. -- Jane Shilling * THE EVENING STANDARD *
Widdecombe is revealed as an accomplished, if sedate, storyteller and also a bit of a romantic. -- Ann Simpson * THE HERALD *
a fine, bold opening -- Bel Mooney * THE TIMES *
She has a good eye for detail. -- Julia Flynn * THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH *
You certainly want to know what is going to happen and Widdecombe keeps your attention throughout. -- Maggie Pringle * THE SUNDAY EXPRESS *
there's a certain compulsion to her storytelling. -- Clare Colvin * THE DAILY MAIL *
authentic, distressing and unexpectedly touching. -- Jane Shilling * THE EVENING STANDARD *
Widdecombe is revealed as an accomplished, if sedate, storyteller and also a bit of a romantic. -- Ann Simpson * THE HERALD *
a fine, bold opening -- Bel Mooney * THE TIMES *
She has a good eye for detail. -- Julia Flynn * THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH *
You certainly want to know what is going to happen and Widdecombe keeps your attention throughout. -- Maggie Pringle * THE SUNDAY EXPRESS *
there's a certain compulsion to her storytelling. -- Clare Colvin * THE DAILY MAIL *
Ann Widdecombe is best known as a Member of Parliament and for her broadcasting and journalism, but long had ambitions to write novels. She was born in 1947 and grew up moving around the country and abroad with her parents, as her father served in the Admiralty. She was educated at the Universities of Birmingham and Oxford. She now lives in London and in the picturesque village of Sutton Valence, Kent. She is the author of two previous novels, The Clematis Tree and An Act of Treachery. She writes her novels on long train journeys and in Singapore when she visits her Chinese nanny.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9780297829621 |
| ISBN 10 | 0297829629 |
| Title | Father Figure |
| Author | Ann Widdecombe |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Hardback |
| Publisher | Orion Publishing Co |
| Year published | 2005-01-04 |
| Number of pages | 352 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |