The Dead Fathers Club - Matt Haig

Fiction

May 4

About the book

Dead Fathers Club was written by bestselling author Matt Haig in 2006. The plot may strike one as oddly familiar as it embodies a modern retelling of the infamous Shakespeare play; Hamlet.

Philip Noble is an eleven-year-old in crisis. His pub landlord father has died in a road accident, and his mother is succumbing to the greasy charms of her dead husband's brother, Uncle Alan. The remaining certainties of Philip's life crumble away when his father's ghost appears in the pub and declares Uncle Alan murdered him. Arming himself with weapons from the school chemistry cupboard, Philip vows to carry out the ghost's relentless demands for revenge.

Although he yearns to bring peace to his father’s soul, he hesitates, wondering what kind of peace can truly be won by giving the wheel of violence another turn. Can the words of a ghost be trusted any more than the lies of the living?

About the author

Matt Haig is an author for children and adults. His memoir Reasons to Stay Alive was a number one bestseller, staying in the British top ten for 46 weeks. His children’s book A Boy Called Christmas was a runaway hit and is translated in over 40 languages. It is being made into a film starring Maggie Smith, Sally Hawkins and Jim Broadbent and The Guardian called it an ‘instant classic’. His novels for adults include the award-winning How To Stop Time, The Radleys, The Humans and the number one bestseller The Midnight Library.

He has sold over three million books worldwide.