SOURCE: “Pater But No Familias,” in Nation, April 13, 1992, pp. 494-96.

In the following review, Cooke offers a positive evaluation of The Lost Father. Drawing attention to the novel's archetypal quest theme, Cooke concludes that the novel is “a beautiful, original chronicle of a woman-odyssey rare in literature.”

My mother never lost her faith in men, but after years, it became more general. She believed a man would come and be my father, some man. It didn't have to be our original one, the one we'd prayed to first as one and only. Any man with certain assets would do.

In this we disagreed, but quietly. I was becoming a fanatic.

What does a girl miss, growing up without a father? Is it maleness in general, the obverse of Mother, a bright yang to her shadowy yin? Or is it the father in particular, the “one and only,” destiny...