DRIVER'S EDUCATION

"A meticulously observed family story; a social fiction that involves everything from reality TV to truth-telling in the internet age; funny and sad, smart and exciting, this is a great book." (Darin Strauss, author of "Chang and Eng")

Allistair McPhee is a grand man, not necessarily in size or proportion, but int eh manner in which he lives, and the stories that he tells. That's how his grandson, Finn, likes to tell it. A reylity RV editor by trade, Finn has spent years evolving those stories from mere tales into unforgettable myths about one staggerin man. But Finn's father Colin has a different version of how Alistair's life played out: the story of a boy without a father who grew up, alone, in movie theaters; with his only comfort the Technicolor projections flashing across the screen. When Finn receives a call in New York informing him that Alistair is dying at Colin's home in San Francisco, he speeds across the country in the old man's car, a barely working Cheve called Lucy. As they weave across the country, Finn recalls the mythic tales that he's spent so long perfecting - stories that sew together history, fact, and fiction into bizarre narratives about houses built of records, one-eyed gangsters, and, above all things, love. Meanwhile, as Colin is forced to care for the man who once abandoned him, he recounts his own personal history: a history that poignantly reveals the truths and betrayals, the rifts and -ultimately- the reconciliations, that exist between all fathers and sons. Grant Ginder is the author of "This is How It Starts", which was published by S&S in 2009. He received his MFA from NYU, and lives in New York City.