I was completely absorbed from the beginning. Stealing Dad captures the darkness of a bereaved, divided family and takes it on a sometimes hilarious joy-ride into the light
Any novel about a large Bohemian family is fascinating, and Sofka Zinovieff’s Stealing Dad is no exception. A black comedy about bereavement, rivalries, anger and finding peace it shares with her admired Putney an elegance and intelligence that make it a rewarding read
[Sofka Zinovieff] has an enviable gift for story-telling and character creation. I thought Stealing Dad was a wonderful combination of hilariously improbable and believably sad. A romp – but also a reminder of human fallibility and mortality
I laughed and cried reading Stealing Dad. A brilliant depiction of a complex sprawling family with a charismatic lovable rogue at its centre. It is both tragic and funny, but ultimately heartwarming, brought alive by such beautiful descriptive writing of characterisation and place. I loved this book and didn’t want it to end
Stealing Dad contributes to a vital and much-needed conversation about grief and funerals. A novel that scrutinises some of our most raw emotions with honesty and humour
A glorious read
Moving, funny and unexpectedly joyful, I became immersed in the tangled skeins of this unwieldy family coming to terms with their loss
Funny, sad and beautifully written. It will make you appreciate your own family, and wish, perhaps, that you too had an assortment of semi siblings with whom you could take some magic mushrooms, filch a corpse and go on an adventure… A first-class novel starring a dysfunctional family like no other
“Invasion of the Body Snatchers”
“Zinovieff – whose own experience of being barred from attending her father’s funeral inspired the novel – contextualises grief’s most ugly, rash, contradictory and humiliating expressions with compassion and humour.”
Telegraph Magazine: I was banned from my father’s funeral – by my father
As a child I was terrified of my dad dying. He was wild and filled with creative turbulence, but he was my rock…
“Zinovieff’s STEALING DAD, set in Athens, London and Scotland … is a thrilling and very rewarding read.”
“Part grief-memoir and part macabre escapade”…'”the writing is fresh… and sensuous.”
“Funny, sad and full of beautiful writing.” Alex Preston
“Hot summer sizzle of a book”
I loved Sofka Zinovieff’s potent, highly readable and compelling novel Putney, which came out a few years ago so I pounced on Stealing Dad and ripped through the pages. Another thorny family presented with Zinovieff’s sharp, wry and funny perceptions. Hot summer in Athens, a heist and a vast and funny journey to a Hebridean island form the backdrop to a wonderful, warm and complex interplay between four sisters who have lost their pretty badly behaved father. They are banned from attending his funeral by their stepmother. Farce that is also profoundly real, follows. The different relationships they had with him and one another, the characters and the situations emerge with assurance and a lot of really great and sometimes macabre humour. This novel is a Whisky Sour. Approach with caution, and delight.
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