Mr. Wizard: A Novel

Jeff Wallach — Author Verified independent store

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Two days before she dies, Jenny tells her son Phillip he might want to watch his drinking — he's half Irish, after all. A DNA test sends two middle-aged brothers on a genetic treas ure hunt from Long Island to the west coast of Ireland, and into the question of what, exactly, makes us who we are. Phillip and Spencer have grown up believing the same story everyone else believed: that they are the Jewish-American sons of their late father, killed in Vietnam, and their irrepressible, globe-trotting mother, Jenny. Two days before she dies, Jenny leans over to Phillip and — almost as an aside — suggests that since he's half Irish, he might want to be a little more careful about his drinking. That's the whole line. It's all she gives him. A few weeks later, grief turns into curiosity, curiosity turns into a cheek swab, and a cheek swab turns into a plane ticket. Phillip drags his brother into what becomes a genetic treasure hunt — from Long Island living rooms to the windswept links of the west coast of Ireland — in search of a biological father who left no forwarding address and, it turns out, a family neither of them ever imagined. Praise for Mr. Wizard: "The writing is knowing and engaging, wise about its cultural orientations, and driven to discoveries both reassuring and life-enhancing." — Michael Curtis, Fiction Editor Emeritus, The Atlantic "A hilarious and witty novel — a book that asks, with real generosity, what makes us who we are." — Robert K. Brigham, Historian, Vassar College "Captures the mystical, bonding qualities of golf — and the mysteries of the human heart." — Robert Trent Jones Jr., Golf course architect "Twists and turns like a double helix." — Terri Cheney, New York Times bestselling author Also available on Amazon → Show more