Fatherless: A Memoir

This story begins with a phone call out of the blue: a lawyer tells a writer that his ninety—six—year—old father, with whom he has had no contact since the age of three and whom he has twice tried to find without success, has just died, leaving him nothing. Half—reluctant, half—fascinated, both angry and curious, Keith Maillard begins to research his father’s life. The result is a suspenseful work of historical reconstruction—a social history often reading like a detective story—as well as ...