A strong voice full of poetic, timeless grace. San Francisco Examiner When devastating news shatters the life of six-year-old Harvey, she finds herself in the care of a veteran social worker, Wanda, and alone in the world save for one relative she has never met a disabled felon, haunted by a violent act he can t escape. Moving between past and present, Father s Day weaves together the story of Harvey s childhood on Long Island and her life as a young woman in Paris. Written in raw, spare prose that personifies the characters, this remarkable novel is the journey of two people searching for a future in the ruin of their past. Father s Day is a meditation on the quiet, sublime power of compassion and the beauty of simple, everyday things a breakthrough work from one of our most gifted chroniclers of the human heart. Praise for Father s Day and Simon Van Booy Father s Day is the moving account of a unique relationship between a parent and child thrust together under the worst of circumstances. Elizabeth Crane, author of The History of Great Things Deftly portrays his characters raw emotions. Wall Street Journal The uncanny beauty of Van Booy s prose and his ability to knife straight to the depths of a character s heart fill a reader with wonder. San Francisco Chronicle This is a truly special writer who does things with abstract language that are so evocative and original your breath literally catches in your chest. Andre Dubus III Van Booy tells his stories without affectation, but ever so effectively as a stylist and a devout humanist. Portland Press Herald"