Description
Approval follows would-be parents David and Cici through a series of forays into the past as they go through the motions of applying to adopt a child. Their story builds a picture of hope, vulnerability and fear as David is put under intense and intrusive scrutiny during their battle against faceless bureaucracy. From family background and early experiences to adult relationships, he is forced to revisit uncomfortable - sometimes painful - episodes, in the hope of meeting the authority's requirements. Confronting a lonely, difficult and uncertain path to family life, Approval is a brave novel told from a perspective rarely explored in fiction: a man's response to a couple's infertility. Approval follows would-be parents David and Cici through a series of forays into the past as they go through the motions of applying to adopt a child.
A remarkable, brave and provocative debut on painful aspects of family life from a less explored perspective; explores uncomfortable questions of how far the state intrudes on private life, how judgement is made, and how we readers might measure up if submitted to these tests; winner of the 2020 NorthBound Book Award.
About the Author
John D Rutter is a writer of literary and short fiction and an academic who teaches, researches, edits and writes primarily on the short story - the subject of his PhD from Edge Hill University. His stories and articles have been published in a variety of anthologies and journals. Approval is his first novel. John lives in Lancashire with his wife, Lin.
Reviews
Book Information
ISBN 9781913393120
Author John D. Rutter
Format Paperback
Page Count 304
Imprint Contraband
Publisher Saraband
A remarkable, brave and provocative debut on painful aspects of family life from a less explored perspective; explores uncomfortable questions of how far the state intrudes on private life, how judgement is made, and how we readers might measure up if submitted to these tests; winner of the 2020 NorthBound Book Award.
About the Author
John D Rutter is a writer of literary and short fiction and an academic who teaches, researches, edits and writes primarily on the short story - the subject of his PhD from Edge Hill University. His stories and articles have been published in a variety of anthologies and journals. Approval is his first novel. John lives in Lancashire with his wife, Lin.
Reviews
"John Rutter's Approval is many things at once. A powerful meditation on judgement. A transfixing fable of a Kafka-esque application process. A complex tragedy about fatherhood. But it's also a simple, affecting and beautifully wrought story of one couple's journey towards what they most desire - a child - and the cost of reaching out for one. A hugely promising debut."
-- Rodge Glass"An authentic voice ... the issues it raises are very real and have contemporary resonance."
-- Lancashire Evening PostBook Information
ISBN 9781913393120
Author John D. Rutter
Format Paperback
Page Count 304
Imprint Contraband
Publisher Saraband
