Margins
Our Fathers book cover
Our Fathers
1999
First Published
3.62
Average Rating
304
Number of Pages

First Canadian publication of the powerful debut novel from the author of Be Near Me. Finalist for the Man Booker Prize, the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, and the Whitbread Award. Hugh Bawn was a modern hero, a visionary urban planner, a man of the people who revolutionized Scotland’s residential development after the Second World War. But times have changed. Now, as he lies dying in one of his own failed buildings, his grandson Jamie comes home to watch over him. The old man’s final months bring Jamie to see what is best and worst in the past that haunts them all, and he sees the fears of his own life unravel in the land that bred him. It is Jamie who tells the story of his family, of three generations of pride and delusion, of nationality and strong drink, of Catholic faith and the end of political idealism. It is a tale of dark hearts and modern houses, of three men in search of Utopia. A poignant and powerful reclamation of the past, Our Fathers is a deeply felt, beautifully crafted, utterly unforgettable novel.

Avg Rating
3.62
Number of Ratings
712
5 STARS
19%
4 STARS
37%
3 STARS
33%
2 STARS
9%
1 STARS
3%
goodreads

Author

Andrew O'Hagan
Andrew O'Hagan
Author · 18 books

Andrew O'Hagan, FRSL (born 1968) is a Scottish novelist and non-fiction author. He is the author of the novels Our Fathers, Personality, and Be Near Me, longlisted for the Man Booker Prize. His work has appeared in the London Review of Books, the New York Review of Books, the New Yorker, and The Guardian (U.K.). In 2003, O’Hagan was named one of Granta’s Best Young British Novelists. He lives in London, England.

548 Market St PMB 65688, San Francisco California 94104-5401 USA
© 2026 Paratext Inc. All rights reserved