John Dufresne has an unfathomable ability to make me laugh and break my heart, often in the space of a single sentence. My Darling Boy is both a lamentation and a celebration of the infinite mystery we call human nature. A masterwork.--Dennis Lehane, author of Small Mercies

My Darling Boy is a big-hearted love song to being human. Populated by unforgettable characters in Florida towns like Melancholy and Whynot, and written in John Dufresne's unique voice, the novel examines love and addiction and despair, and most of all, hope. I love this book.--Ann Hood, author of The Stolen Child

John Dufresne hits it out of the park with My Darling Boy.... Follow along as this wordsmith keeps you laughing, while imparting wisdom about how to navigate life's peaks and valleys. Dufresne is a master of the craft and a writer to be celebrated.--Jonathan Escoffery, author of If I Survive You

I suggest you don't blink when you read Dufresne's book--you may just miss something you'll never want to forget.--Cully Perlman, author of The Losses

Improbably entertaining...My Darling Boy is a tale of parenthood, friendship and resolute love.--Heller McAlpin, The New York Times

A sensitive portrait of parenthood...--The New Yorker

My Darling Boy is exquisitely painful and wonderfully rendered. Instead of a bookmark, readers, bring a pack of tissues with you.--Denise Duhamel, author of Pink Lady

My Darling Boy is about the fullness of time and is as bittersweet, beautiful, and consoling as the truth can be.--Debra Monroe, author of It Takes a Worried Woman

This novel will touch you with its story of family and redemption. It will also make you laugh. John Dufresne is a master when it comes to capturing the oddities and the earnest longings of the human heart.--Lee Martin, author of the Pulitzer Prize Finalist, The Bright Forever

Reminiscent of American Pastoral by Phillip Roth, My Darling Boy deals with the terrible estrangement that shocks so many families around the world: the good life sometimes is not good enough.--Neil Crabtree, author of Smuggler's Return

Olney is Dufresne's broken everyman riding this more slapstick than noir merry-go-round, which sports a whacked out cast of dodgy characters, and enough witty wordplay and Florida mayhem to whet any reader's whistle. Dig the ride but stick around for the tears, hijinks, and laughter.--Richard Peabody, editor, Gargoyle Magazine

Hope endures in this dazzling transcendent novel about a father and son. John Dufresne writes with profound love, infinite heart and enviable talent; his best and the finest I have read in a very long time.--Robert Olmstead, author of Savage Country

In the hands of anyone but John Dufresne, Olney's situation could spell grimness a reader would run from. Only John Dufresne could have told this story in his singular way that leaves you right there with Olney, hoping, veering left toward Whynot.--Teddy Jones, author of Marva Cope

Dufresne transforms Florida and its citizens, already a bubble-off-plumb, into a magical universe populated by extraordinary beings. Dufresne offsets danger by wonder, hurt by hope, and sadness by love. I would give my left arm to live in Anastasia, and be off to search Whynot for the prodigal son.--Scott Jones, author of And Throw Away the Skins

Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company

Pub date: 2025-01-14

Length: 288 pages