The Imagined LifeThe Imagined Life

Steven Mills has reached a crossroads. His wife and son have left, and they may not return. Which leaves him determined to find out what happened to his own father, a brilliant, charismatic professor who disappeared on a wave of ignominy in 1984 when Steve was twelve. As Steve drives up the coast of California, seeking out his father's friends and former colleagues, he reminisces on his childhood: his parents' legendary pool parties, the black-and-white films on the backyard projector, secrets shared with his closest friend. Each conversation in the present reveals another layer of his father's past, another insight into his disappearance. Yet with every revelation, his father becomes more difficult to recognize. And, with every insight, Steve must confront truths about his own life.