Pagan and Her Parents

Candida Mulliner and Leo Young have been the closest of friends since university, living together but loving separately. When Candida dies after a long illness, she leaves her five-year-old daughter, Pagan, in Leo's care. Candida's adoptive parents are horrified. Opposed to a gay man raising a child, they challenge Leo's guardianship in the courts. As Leo fights for his and Pagan's rights, he finds himself isolated, vilified, and, ultimately, arrested. Meanwhile, he sets out to discover the truth about Candida, the cause of her estrangement from her adoptive parents, the identity of her natural mother, and the reasons for her refusal to name Pagan's father. Michael Arditti's moving, passionate, and provocative novel is a powerful exploration of the nature of parenthood and meaning of family life.

Michael Arditti is a novelist, short story writer and critic. His novels are The Celibate (1993), Pagan and her Parents - Pagan’s Father in the USA (1996), Easter (2000), Unity (2005), A Sea Change (2006), The Enemy of the Good (2009), Jubilate (2011) and The Breath of Night (2013). His short story collection, Good Clean Fun was published in 2004. He was awarded a Harold Hyam Wingate scholarship in 2000, a Royal Literary Fund fellowship in 2001, an Oppenheim-John Downes memorial award in 2003, and Arts Council awards in 2004 and 2007. He was the Leverhulme artist in residence at the Freud museum in 2008. His novels have been short- and long-listed for several literary awards and Easter won the inaugural Waterstone’s Mardi Gras award. In 2012 he was awarded an Honorary DLitt by the University of Chester.