THE FAMILY CLAUSE BOOK TALK

Jonas Hassen Khemiri, the acclaimed author of Montecore, joins us to discuss his new book The Family Clause, a novel about a family on the verge of collapse.

“The son did as he was told. All his bloody life, he has done as he has been told. Time to change that, he thinks, grabbing a pen. He doesn’t write that this will be the last time his father stays here. He doesn’t write that he wants to break the father clause. Instead, he writes: ‘Welcome, Dad. Hope you had a good flight’.”

Per a longstanding family agreement, a grandfather has maintained his Swedish residency while living abroad by coming to stay with his son every six months. On this visit, in his mind, the son is a failure; the daughter is having a baby with the wrong man; and only the grandfather is perfect—at least, according to himself.

But over the course of ten intense days, as relationships unfold and painful memories resurface, the grandfather is confronted by his past, while the daughter is faced with an impossible choice, and the son attempts to write himself free. Something has to give. Can this family clause be renegotiated, or will it chain the family to its past forever?

Through a series of quickly changing perspectives, Jonas Hassen Khemiri evokes an intimate portrait of a chaotic and perfectly normal family, deeply wounded by the death of a child and the disappearance of a father.

Following the discussion, copies of the book will be available for purchasing and signing.