Simon Van Booy (The Illusion of Separateness) celebrates the parent-child bond through the story of an orphaned girl named Harvey, and the seemingly unsuitable uncle called upon to become her new father.
Van Booy follows two distinct periods in Harvey's life. The first begins with a visit to a duck pond with her father during early childhood; the other is set in Paris on Father's Day where Harvey, now grown, waits for her father to visit her. However, the men Harvey calls "Dad" are not the same person. When Harvey was six, her parents died, leaving her alone but for her father's estranged brother, Jason, an ex-con with a prosthetic leg who lived on disability checks and online sales of thrift items. Harvey's social worker Wanda can't help believing he and Harvey are each other's last chance; with a good deal of emotional manipulation and rule-bending, she convinces both Jason and the state that Harvey belongs with him. As a grown Harvey presents Jason with a series of Father's Day gifts commemorating turning points in their lives together, Van Booy flashes back to the moment each gift symbolizes, treating the reader to the evolution of a memorable relationship.
Van Booy doesn't shy away from the challenges of parenting, but despite their struggles, the pair find moments of grace and unexpected allies. Although any reader will find something to love here, someone who has benefited from a perfectly imperfect family will wear the widest smile. This little book with a big heart is suitable not just for Father's Day, but for any day. --Jaclyn Fulwood, blogger at Infinite Reads