‘I was written out of the family story. This book is my attempt to write myself, and my mother, back into it.’

In this singular memoir, historian and biographer Jim Davidson writes about his fraught relationship with his authoritarian and controlling father, whose South African background and time in Papua New Guinea and Fiji prompted his own post-war mini-empire of dominance. A manipulative and emotionally ferocious man, he rejects his son and creates a second family, shutting Jim out and eventually disinheriting him, but never really leaving him alone.

Traversing territory across Australia, South Africa, India and London, this beautifully written book tells of a time of crushing conformity, sharply reminding us that some experiences can never be written out of our personal histories.

Sales Points

Literary memoirs of men uncovering the dynamics of their families are popular – e.g. Richard Glover, Tim Elliott in Australia
Increased interest in queer memoir, i.e. experiences of people coming out as gay or queer, especially in contexts where acceptance or understanding is limited
Jim Davidson writes with a historian’s eye for the personal impact of grand historical forces, and the undercurrents of how powerfully relationships can shape lives
Released for Father’s Day in Australia – an antidote to ads for biographies of sporting heroes