Richard Ford's parents were not practised self-explainers or confiders. He has therefore investigated their lives - and his - from anecdote, history and conjecture. Ford's mother, a dark-eyed Arkansas beauty whose education was cut short by her colourful itinerant parents, fell in love with Ford's first-generation Irish father at only 17. They took to the road together as kids across the American South, coming to a halt only when a son was born. Written with precision, power, humanity and intelligence, Between Them is both a son's act of great love and a searing meditation on family.'Ford is possessed of a writer's greatest gifts ... Pure vocal grace, quiet humour, precise and calm observation' Lorrie Moore'A marvellous writer' John Banville