What happens when parents refuse to remain the family's permanent bank, refuge and target of condescension? Fred Cornplow, a fifty-five-year-old automobile dealer in Sachem Falls, New York, has watched his adult children dismiss him as intellectually obsolete while continuing to treat his money as readily available. His growing resentment turns the familiar revolt of youth on its head: now the parents are ready to rebel. Marriage, obligation and financial dependence collide in a satirical portrait of middle-class family life. Fred and his wife confront children whose instability and rejection of parental authority expose the uneasy bargain between generations. Yet the conflict reaches beyond domestic irritation, probing how ageing alters power within a family and how easily affection becomes entangled with expectation. The comedy lies in the widening distance between what parents believe they are owed and what their children assume they will provide. From the Cornplows' home and business world to a college community, Europe and the Canadian woods, the novel places its family dispute against changing social roles and assumptions. Fred's predicament gives this generational conflict novel its distinctive perspective: youth is not the only force capable of challenging convention, and parental patience is not inexhaustible. Through money, marriage and middle-class complacency, the social satire asks who may claim independence while still relying upon someone else's support. This book was out of print for decades and is now republished by Alpha Editions. It has been restored for today's and future generations. This edition is not just a reprint - it's a collector's item and a cultural treasure.
