If your previous experience with Beverly Nichols has been the books of his funny, warm and affectionate gardening trilogy (Down the Garden Path, Sunlight on the Lawn, etc), caveat lector. This is a disturbingly candid account of Nichols’ monstrously destructive alcoholic father, and Nichols’ own determination to escape from a family environment that was toxic in the extreme – and a harrowing saga of a deep and mutual hatred between father and son.