Father figure.

If your previous experience with Beverly Nichols has been the books of his funny, warm and affectionate gardening trilogy (Down the Garden Path, Sunlight on the Lawn, etc), *caveat lector.* This is a disturbingly candid account of Nichols’ monstrously destructive alcoholic father, and Nichols’ own determination to escape from a family environment that was toxic in the extreme – and a harrowing saga of a deep and mutual hatred between father and son.