Shtum
Subtitle: a novel
By: Jem Lester
Publisher: The Overlook Press
Published: 2017
Language: eng
Number of pages: 313
ISBN-13: 9781468314724
Copyright date: 2016
Subjects: Autistic youth; Fiction; Fathers and sons; Parents of autistic children
Description: "In this darkly funny and emotive debut, Ben Jewell has hit a breaking point. His profoundly autistic ten-year-old son, Jonah, has never spoken, and Ben and his wife Emma are struggling to cope. When Ben and Emma fake a separationa strategic, yet ill-advised, decision to further Jonah's case in an upcoming tribunal to determine the future of his educationfather and son are forced to move in with Georg, Ben's elderly and cantankerous father. In a small house in north London, three generations of men one who can't talk; two who won'tare thrown together. As Ben confronts single fatherhood, he must battle a string of well-meaning social workers and his own demons to advocate for his son, learning some harsh lessons about accountability from his own father along the way. As the tribunal draws near, Jonah, blissful in his innocence, becomes the prism through which all the complicated strands of personal identity, family history, and misunderstanding are finally untangled."--Amazon.com