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A propulsive, scorching modern gothic, Yes, Daddy follows an ambitious young man who is lured by an older, successful playwright into a dizzying world of wealth and an idyllic Hamptons home where things take a nightmarish turn.
Jonah Keller moved to New York City with dreams of becoming a successful playwright, but, for the time being, lives in a rundown sublet in Bushwick, working extra hours at a restaurant only to barely make rent. When he stumbles upon a photo of Richard Shriver—the glamorous Pulitzer Prize–winning playwright and quite possibly the stepping stone to the fame he craves—Jonah orchestrates their meeting. The two begin a hungry, passionate affair.
When summer arrives, Richard invites his young lover for a spell at his sprawling estate in the Hamptons. A tall iron fence surrounds the idyllic compound where Richard and a few of his close artist friends entertain, have lavish dinners, and—Jonah can’t help but notice—employ a waitstaff of young, attractive gay men, many of whom sport ugly bruises. Soon, Jonah is cast out of Richard’s good graces and a sinister underlay begins to emerge. As a series of transgressions lead inexorably to a violent climax, Jonah hurtles toward a decisive revenge that will shape the rest of his life.
Riveting, unpredictable, and compulsively readable, Yes, Daddy is an exploration of class, power dynamics, and the nuances of victimhood and complicity. It burns with weight and clarity—and offers hope that stories may hold the key to our healing.
Author: Jonathan Parks-Ramage
Published 1 June 2022 Paperback 288 pages
Originally published in hardback 25 May 2021
"Yes, Daddy is the kind of story that sticks with you and refuses to leave. Jonathan Parks-Ramage has written a gut-churning, heart-wrenching, blockbuster of a first novel. Deeply queer and deeply human, it is a book that describes what it means to be broken apart in trauma and grief and what it takes to be painfully, carefully stitched back together again. Parks-Ramage is an extraordinary new talent and Yes, Daddy is truly something special."—Kristen Arnett, author of Mostly Dead Things
“A dark and aching account, where the treachery of powerful men preys on the bodies and minds of the young. The excesses of a Hamptons summer cannot cover up the truth of how greed and need birth abuses so visceral as to touch the surreal. Parks-Ramage takes a reader into the fiery, unblinking sights of a tortured beast.”—Samantha Hunt, author of The Dark Dark
"Jonathan Parks-Ramage has written an incredibly tender, yet fearless, novel that reminds us of what it means to err, to be forgiven, to forgive, and to live. Yes, Daddy is a gem of a debut."—De'Shawn Charles Winslow, author of In West Mills