The Would-be Father Book Cover

The Would-be Father


A Literary Fiction Short Story

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Publisher Description

From the collection Gryphon, Charles Baxter's luminous story of caretaking under any circumstance.

Burrage never thought he'd be the responsible one. When his brother and sister-in-law die in a car accident, he becomes caretaker to his young nephew, a fragile boy who wants to know what the future will be.

Burrage begins writing the boy's horoscope—stars, trains, and hide-and-seek—until his predictions begin to fail, in a rowboat, in the middle of a lake.

Charles Baxter is one of our finest short story writers, a modern master.

"The Would-be Father" is one of his first published short stories.

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