Attrition

A taut psychological study of that most difficult of relationships -- that between a father and the gay son who has disappointed him. Pip Winter, a thirty-something jobbing actor, is engaged in a tempestuous tug-of-war with his unstable lover Callum, and enjoys an embittered non-relationship with his father, Harry. When Harry becomes seriously ill and in need of a carer, Pip finds himself unwillingly responding to the paternal call. Returning to his parental home for the first time in years, the unhappy past floods back to him with disturbing results. Secrets, lies and recriminations arise as the two men face each other over the years of silence. As the conflicting demands of career, lover and father escalate, Pip is forced to re-evaluate both himself and his father. Set against a background of theatre on one hand and the horse world on the other, this lyrical novel examines the perennial tensions between fathers and sons, the nature of family, and subtly draws comparison between different kinds of bereavement. Attrition is a family story with a bitter twist which at once shocks and moves.Lovat, Simon is the author of 'Attrition' with ISBN 9781902852126 and ISBN 1902852125.