The Lonely Polygamist
ABOUT
THE BOOK
Golden Richards, husband to four wives, father to twenty-eight children, is having the mother of all midlife crises. His construction business is failing, his family has grown into an overpopulated mini-dukedom beset with insurrection and rivalry, and he is done in with grief: due to the accidental death of a daughter and the stillbirth of a son, he has come to doubt the capacity of his own heart. Brady Udall, one of our finest American fiction writers, tells a tragicomic story of a deeply faithful man who, crippled by grief and the demands of work and family, becomes entangled in an affair that threatens to destroy his family’s future. Like John Irving and Richard Yates, Udall creates characters that engage us to the fullest as they grapple with the nature of need, love, and belonging.
NOMINATING LIBRARY COMMENTS
Udall’s well crafted novel is a family drama that highlights the historical polygamist lifestyle of the 1970s, in the USA. A blend of drama with slashes of dark comedy and social commentary – Udall’s dark family drama shines through its brilliant humor and thoughtful, well-fleshed characters. Reminiscent of Irving, Udall carefully creates a world where being at the centre of the universe can be the most isolated of places.