Schroder

About the book

While attending a summer camp in New England, young Eric Schroder, a first-generation East German immigrant, decides to take on the last name Kennedy in order to blend in more easily. This small white lie proves to have significant consequences, leading him on a path filled with improbable events and ultimately tragedy.

The novel Schroder tells the tale of Eric's desperate attempt to escape years later to Lake Champlain, Vermont, with his young daughter, Meadow, as he tries to evade the authorities during a heated custody battle with his wife. She soon discovers that her husband is not who he claims to be. Reflecting on his life from a correctional facility, Eric examines his past to unravel and perhaps justify his actions: the painful separation from his mother during childhood, a challenging journey to America with his distant father, a failed romance plagued by deceit, and the highs and lows of being a flawed yet caring father.

Amity Gaige's novel, with its mix of lovesickness and euphoria, delves into themes of history, fatherhood, and the various personas we adopt throughout our lives - both those inherent and those we create for ourselves.