The Lost Father

“All you have to do to become somebody’s God is disappear.” The speaker is Mayan Atassi, the wise and frighteningly vulnerable heroine who captivated readers of Mona Simpson’s Anywhere But Here and who now narrates the novel’s immensely powerful successor. Mayan’s god is her father, who left her when she was a child. Up until now she has worshiped him by waiting for him to come back. But at the age of twenty-eight Mayan sets out to find him. Her quest is an epic, wrenching search that leads her across two continents to the high edge of madness. It leads the reader to a poignant understanding of the nature of love and lovelessness, fathers and fatherlessness, and of the loyalties that make us who we are – even when they threaten to destroy us. “Phenomenal…brilliant, astonishing and wholly original…Simpson [has] created a marvel.” – Newsweek “A breathtaking piece of fiction; Simpson is a writer who can break our heart and mend it in the same sentence.” – Cleveland Plain Dealer “Intimate in scale…profound in implication…dazzling…an essence of family life has been distilled; it is a heady perfume…and enriching experience.” - San Francisco Chronicle