the House of Rising Son

A debut novel from an established British TV comedy director. Parts of the book are loosely based on a series of autobiographical articles the author wrote for The Times Saturday magazine on the traumas of mid-life. Alex Feinstein’s life is in free-fall. His career has tanked. His wife has left him. And he’s at war with his 15-year-old son. To cap it all, he’s just had a frightening diagnosis. At the end of his tether - literally - he's about to hang himself from the living-room ceiling when his distraught ex calls to say their son’s been kidnapped at Glasto. The gang is demanding a hefty ransom, and if the cops get involved, Fred’s toast. But who are these people - and why have they targeted Fred? With renewed sense of purpose and nothing to lose, Alex wriggles out of his makeshift noose and embarks on a frantic mission to rescue the boy - and who knows? - perhaps even himself. The House of the Rising Son is a dark comic odyssey through the converging traumas of mid-life and adolescence, with a fresh look at family dynamics through the post#MeToo male prism.