Author(s): The Crump Brothers

NZ Biography | Bibliophilia

Barry Crump - the man, the myth, the father.

'Barry was never a father to me, but he did become a friend.'- Martin Crump

Barry Crump was a titan of New Zealand writing, his semi-autobiographical novels about life as a rugged outdoorsman selling more than a million copies. In his time, he was held up as the quintessential Kiwi bloke. In our time, the situation is less sure, with Barry now well known for being an unscrupulous brute, womaniser, alcoholic and absentee husband.

Barry was also the father of six children - all of them boys. For Ivan, Martin, Stephen, Harry, Erik and Lyall, Barry has always been an enigma that casts a strange shadow over their lives. Sons of a Good Keen Man is their story - the first time they've all gone on record together about their father.

Published 25 years after Barry's death, Sons of a Good Keen Man offers straight-and-true anecdotes that grip, entertain, surprise and even provoke a few laughs. Each son writes frankly and movingly about how they have navigated life with or without Barry.

Illuminating, essential, at times confronting, and containing never-seen-before photos, Sons of a Good Keen Man is a timely reflection on fatherhood and identity, the legacy of trauma, and how time can both heal and ask new questions.