REVIEWS

Sins of My Father was chosen as NON FICTION BOOK OF THE YEAR 2022 by THE GUARDIAN and THE SPECTATOR.

Dunn tries to make sense of her fractured relationship with a charismatic man who enthralled her, but who was also a shambolic and at times shockingly unfit parent. A tremendously good memoir; a page-turning story of family complexity, and strikingly talented writing. CAROLINE SANDERSON – EDITOR’S CHOICE, THE BOOKSELLER

SINS OF MY FATHER is Dunn’s attempt to know her father, constantly on the move, impossible to rely on . . . she puts it together as if she is a detective working a long-forgotten cold case, and though its setting is very different, it reminded me of Laura Cummings’ gripping memoir, On Chapel Sands . . . there is beauty in its crisp, cold clarity . . . as vivid an account of addiction as I can remember reading. Sins of My Father is a testament to the damage done, but it reads, in the end, like the slow discovery of freedom’  REBECCA NICHOLSON – THE GUARDIAN – BOOK OF THE DAY

Considerable courage is needed to return to the stark, bright light of trauma in this shirking-nothing way; but writing of this intensity has delivered an astonishing and valuable memoir. JULIET NICOLSON – THE SPECTATOR

A superb memoirSINS OF MY FATHER is a terrific read, beautifully written and expertly structured… The book pulls off the difficult trick of laying bare just how morally bankrupt Lily’s father was, while making the reader understand why she didn’t give up on him until the very end. CONSTANCE CRAIG-SMITH – THE DAILY MAIL – BOOK OF THE WEEK 

With Jung as her guide, Dunn charts her father’s psycho-social development with a forensic eye, repeatedly asking the reader to consider generational accountability in our appraisal of mental illness… Such clear-headed poignancy on the impossibility of ever truly leaving the cult of the parent is what makes this memoir extraordinary. Once read, it will stay with you. ARABELLA BYRNE, THE CRITIC 

I was obsessed with SINS OF MY FATHER, a memoir which combines the emotional and the cerebral in telling the story of a life through the prism of a father’s influence. The stories of the children of hippies, or parents who chose experimental lifestyles, is fascinating and fertile territory and although this story is Lily’s own, she also speaks for a cohort. It is a victory of self-knowledge and compassion, as well as art – AMY LIPTROT

SINS OF MY FATHER is forensic in its compassion and precise in its love: an extraordinary account of an extraordinary life that produces great empathy for the universals of human frailty – JENN ASHWORTH

SINS OF MY FATHER is an intensely gripping memoir about the love between a daughter and a father. There’s no end to the ways this father tests his loved ones. He leaves his wife and children, joins a cult, becomes an alcoholic, chases after get-rich-quick schemes… Yet still his family keeps on trying and hoping for the best. A heart-stoppingly brilliant read that is as brutal and funny as it is raw and candid. I really wanted the craziness to stop — but I never wanted this book to end — VIV GROSKOP

In SINS OF MY FATHER Lily Dunn has created an almost forensic analysis of the curse of the Charismatic Dad – on himself, his family and specifically here on his little daughter, who grows up under the desperate double shadow cast by addiction and devoted love, and finally in this memoir does all the painstaking, heartbreaking, ultimately fulfilling work that her father couldn’t do – LOUISA YOUNG

SINS OF MY FATHER is a moving story about a golden, gifted family and their paradise lost. About a daughter escaping the dense gravitational pull of a charismatic father through the act of writing. By turns tender and forensic, loving then fierce, this book will speak to anyone who has had to love and let go – TANYA SHADRICK

SINS OF MY FATHER is a powerful, necessary, brilliantly brave book. It is superlative; it hums and flies and sings. It is moving and true – MARINA BENJAMIN

SINS OF MY FATHER is stunning. Beautifully crafted and brutally honest, it’s a totally mesmerising journey through the outer limits of love  – DAVID WHITEHOUSE

In this compelling memoir Dunn confronts the legacies of trauma and dysfunction that surround her complicated father. She writes with searing honesty and clarity, exploring what it means to step away from the shadow of our family and find our own voice – LULAH ELLENDER

In SINS OF MY FATHER Lily Dunn deftly explores the complexity of her father’s choices; it’s a startling book that will resonate with anyone who’s loved a difficult parent and spent a lifetime trying to work them out — ALI MILLAR

SINS OF MY FATHER  is a devastating work of love, pain and hope. Lily has created art and insight from chaos, joy and suffering – SOFKA ZINOVIEFF