Father, Who Art

Top Hollywood television talent agent Gem O'Connell holds his first grandchild and a panic attack ensues. He seeks the help of Dr. Friedman, a celebrated psychotherapist. Gem’s lovely wife, Kelly, lends him love and support through his difficult journey into his memories. Together they seek the root of the anxiety in Gem’s past as a foster child in Los Angeles. Father, Who Art leads readers through scenes of Gem’s audacious attempts to run away, tender and lonely moments spent in orphanages, confusing foster family experiences made tolerable by his caring social worker and a friendship with an eastern monk as he yearns to be reunited with his incarcerated father. Gem is ultimately forced to come to terms with the darkest person in his past. Author Drew O'Brien returns readers to the quiet suburbs of his native South Bay, viewed through the eyes of an abandoned, neglected foster child. This novel explores fathers who are present, fathers who are past, good fathers, bad fathers, and fathers who art.