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A powerful, singular collection of short stories depicting the evolving role of fatherhood in contemporary society—perfect for readers of Jamel Brinkley's A Lucky Man and Phil Klay's Redeployment.
From stories about a father who shows up hungover to chaperone his daughter's kindergarten bowling trip, to another who rediscovers his love of graffiti, and a father who pays for his legal fees and apartment through his OnlyFans earnings, Head of Household is a short story collection that reckons with divorce, financial anxiety, and sexuality to create a collage of the beleaguered father, a man on the frontlines of a masculinity in crisis—stories of men salvaging the shreds of their identities while staging puppet shows and pretending to be ponies for their children.
"These warm, engaging stories, full of revelatory insights into parenting, are highly recommended for parents in particular, who will recognize so much in this excellently observed collection." —Booklist
"Munday has a gift for making the sad dad more than just a trope. Clear, bittersweet tales of masculinity come undone." —Kirkus Reviews
This information about Head of Household was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Oliver Munday is a graphic designer and the author of Don't Sleep: The Urgent Messages of Oliver Munday and the short story collection Head of Household. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, The Atlantic, The Believer, The Sewanee Review, and LitHub. He lives in New York City.
If you liked Head of Household, try these:
After the Funeral and Other Stories
by Tessa Hadley
Published 2024
A masterful collection of stories that plumb the depths of everyday life to reveal the shifting tides and hidden undercurrents of ordinary relationships.
by Lee Cole
Published 2023
An indelible love story about two very different people navigating the entanglements of class and identity and coming of age in an America coming apart at the seams - this is "an extraordinary debut about the ties that bind families together and tear them apart across generations" (Ann Patchett, best-selling author of The Dutch House).
by Jamel Brinkley
Published 2019
Jamel Brinkley's stories reflect the tenderness and vulnerability of black men and boys whose hopes sometimes betray them, especially in a world shaped by race, gender, and class - where luck may be the greatest fiction of all.
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