What We Lost : A Story of My Father's Childhood

dale peck

Dale Peck, Sr. grew up extremely poor in rural Long Island in the 1950s, sharing a one-room house with seven brothers and sisters, an abusive mother and an alcoholic father haunted by his past. At 14, he was essentially kidnapped by his father and take to his uncle's farm in upstate New York, where his life changed dramatically. Dale grew strong and healthy from the strenuous work on the farm, and developed a loving relationship with his uncle Wallace. For the first time, he knew contentment. But when Dale's mother demanded that he return, he was forced to choose between his broken family and his uncle and land he had come to love. It was a decision that would determine his future and the legacy he would pass on to his own son. In "What We Lost", a story that startles in its immediacy and lack of sentimentality, Dale Peck refracts his father's past through the prism of his own vivid imagination, forging a bridge between generations and revealing the dark secrets at the heart of family.

Genres fiction

null pages, Paperback

First published January 1,2003

Literary awards

randy shilts award,

This edition

Format: null pages, Paperback
Published: January 1, 2004 by Granta Books
ISBN: 9781862076419
ASIN: 1862076413
Language: English

About the author

dale peck

Dale Peck (born 1967 on Long Island, New York) is an American novelist, critic, and columnist. His 2009 novel, Sprout, won the Lambda Literary Award for LGBT Children's/Young Adult literature, and was a finalist for the Stonewall Book Award in the Children's and Young Adult Literature category.