The Father's Tale

A Novel

Canadian bookseller Alex Graham is a middle-age widower whose quiet life is turned upside down when his college-age son disappears without any explanation or trace of where he has gone. With minimal resources, the father begins a long journey that takes him away from his safe and orderly world for the first time.

As he stumbles across the merest thread of a trail, he follows it in blind desperation, and is led step by step on an odyssey that takes him to fascinating places and, sometimes, to frightening people and perils.

Through the uncertainty and the anguish, the loss and the longing, Graham is pulled into conflicts between nations, as well as the eternal conflict between good and evil. Stretched nearly to the breaking point by the inexplicable suffering he witnesses and experiences, he discovers unexpected sources of strength as he presses onward in the hope of recovering his son—and himself.

©2011 Ignatius Press (P)2023 Ignatius Press

Good story. Weird narration.

it's a well written, entertaining story. The narrator chooses strange voices for most characters. Sometimes yelling in his character voice when it doesn't seem to warrant it.

The of story tellers

Best book I’ve heard since the last book I read by this author. The gospel told through an amazing story of love.

Good theme but too long with muppet voices

A prodigal son story always has promise - especially when it isn't shoved down your throat the whole time. This one had promise, but it a) was about 20 hours longer than needed and b) read like an acid trip. (At least, I assume, since I haven't ever been on an acid trip.)

For the audiobook:
While it was impressive that the narrator had a different voice for each of the million characters, most of them sounded like muppets, which was quite distracting. However, if the main character's voice hadn't made him sound like an 85-year-old man (instead of the late 40s that he was), I probably could have overlooked it. As it was, it honestly ruined the story for me.

What is this performance? What is this book?

This reader is the most distracting performance I have ever heard on an audiobook. It’s hard to separate the story now from the performance. This reader does character voices that sound like muppets. The story is a little rough too. Perhaps a better editor would have been helpful.

Too many genres

The author tried to make a religious, action, historical fiction, espionage, spy version of Around the World in 80 Days with hints of romance. It was interesting, but a little too much. Pick a genre and stick to it. The book would be shorter and more cohesive.