The Family Way
Véhicule Press/ Esplanade Books
ISBN-13: 9781550655650
The year Paul turns forty, his friends Wendy and Eve ask him to help them get pregnant. Nothing about the process feels natural to him. But for a gay man of a certain age, making a family still means finding your own way through a world with few ready answers. The eighteen-month journey reveals many insights about Paul’s past and present, from his strained relationship to his father, his overprotective relationship with his partner Michael, and the many friends around him whom he considers his family.
Finalist for the 2022 F.G. Bressani Literary Prize
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Reviews
“The Family Way is a love letter to families, chosen and otherwise, and an engagingly bittersweet tale of the city of Montreal.
— Ann-Marie MacDonald, author of Fall on Your Knees and Adult Onset
“Christopher DiRaddo has a knack for creating characters so instantly recognizable, they could be your neighbours, friends, or family.”
— Stephen McCauley, author of The Object of My Affection and My Ex-Life
“Tender, affectionate and sexy, The Family Way is an astute chronicle of modern queer life at middle age. With sharp-eyed observations on love, loss, sex and friendship, Christopher DiRaddo has crafted a timely tale about creating families that can fit us all.”
— Rachel Giese, author of Boys: What it Means to Become a Man
“Every bit as steeped in the author’s home city as the work of Mordecai Richler, Michel Tremblay and Heather O’Neill… an eloquent demonstration of how the very idea of what constitutes family has evolved and grown.“
— Ian McGillis, The Montreal Gazette
“I enjoyed DiRaddo’s The Geography of Pluto, but I wasn’t prepared for how substantially more developed this novel is, and how enjoyable on several levels… DiRaddo’s juggling act is excellent: no one loses out and it is all to the reader’s gain. A book I can recommend to any family members of any family, anywhere.”
— Felice Picano, author of Like People in History and Late in the Season
“A dynamic and rich exploration of queer family, parenthood, and the deep bonds of love that sustain us.”
— Trevor Corkum, 49th Shelf
“Reading a Christopher DiRaddo book is a strange experience, because he writes with such clarity about his characters that they seem like people we’ve known for years. He conjures up fictional people who feel eerily familiar. Opening up a book feels like walking into an intimate dinner party with a tightly-knit group of old friends.”
— Matthew Hays, Xtra
“… had I come across Christopher DiRaddo’s The Family Way… when I was younger, it would have made the path to accepting my queer identity a lot less terrifying.”
— Kelvin Browne, Literary Review of Canada
“A gateway drug into the quirk and fabulousness of all things gay… A pleasure for readers tackling ever more serious issues roiling beneath the surface of this refreshingly authentic novel.”
— Melanie Mitzner, Vol1 Brooklyn