David Maresh’s Sins of the Father is a raw and unfiltered memoir; a series of vivid journal entries recounting the events that shaped his life. The narrative does not begin chronologically. Instead, it opens with the story of his mother and the understatement of the century – “Mother was a little bit peculiar.”
Mother remains a central figure throughout the book until Maresh finally confronts her, his main abuser and understands what happened to him.
So, what exactly happened to David Maresh, M.D., that compelled him to write this book and why should anyone pick it up?
David was sexually abused by his mother. The abuse began when he was two or three years old and continued into his early teens. Alongside the sexual abuse came severe physical and emotional abuse. He recalls being beaten so brutally as a toddler that he passed out from the pain. He describes years of emotional degradation from a mother who undermined him, belittled him, and worked tirelessly to destroy his sense of worth.
What would make a mother do this to her own child? What would make her not only violate him sexually but also inflict physical pain so intense that he lost consciousness? What kind of mother emotionally cripples her son for years, ensuring he grows up believing he is unlovable, undeserving, and destined to fail?
When asked what inspired the book, David simply said, “I just wrote it.”
He wrote through decades of psychotherapy, trying to understand why he spent more than half his of life contemplating suicide.
David is now 70 years old. He grew up with four siblings, and he is still unsure whether they endured the same horrors. He remembers an older sibling once telling him how to protect himself from their mother’s nightly assaults, advice that sibling later denied ever giving. In his own words, David thinks the abuse was not personal, the way he saw it, any child in her care at that time could have suffered same.
David grew up moody, withdrawn, and convinced he was unworthy of love. His father offered no protection. He witnessed countless beatings yet did nothing, urging young David to “understand” that his mother “had her reasons.” His father’s passivity was rooted in deep insecurity, he felt inferior to his college-educated wife, having never finished high school. A fact she never let him forget.
Despite all this, David became a psychiatrist and practiced for more than 30 years.
Sins of the Father is undeniably sad as a painful excavation of memory, trauma, and survival. Yet, surprisingly, it is also laced with humour. Only someone who has clawed his way through darkness can find moments of hilarity in the very events that nearly destroyed him.
He tries, at times, to excuse his mother. She once claimed she “didn’t want to be alone,” yet the few times toddler David tried to hug her, she beat him so severely he lost consciousness. His father and siblings must have seen the bruises, yet no one took him to a hospital. Silence ruled the household because, in that home, Mother was God.
But the story goes deeper. His mother was a sadist who enjoyed the pain she inflicted on her children and husband. She celebrated David’s failures and fed off his suffering. Their relationship is the emotional core of the book’s 224 pages.
On page 115, David writes, “Mother spoke with absolute conviction that she was right…”
And yet, like any child, he longed for her love, even knowing she would reject him, belittle him, and make him wish for death with her words.
Sins of the Father made its debut at the 2026 London Book Fair. It is a deeply disturbing yet unexpectedly humorous book, written in vignettes that make the reader feel as though David is sitting right in front of them, recounting his life.
The title might hint at a story about a father’s wrongdoing, but the real sins in this book belong overwhelmingly to the mother. Still, through psychoanalysis, David uncovers yet another layer of abuse, this time from another close family member.
Is Sins of the Father worth reading despite its dark, unsettling themes?
Absolutely. David’s humour, resilience, and unflinching honesty make the book compelling. He speaks with surprising candour about his inner battles and the characters who shaped his life.
In one moment, recalling his mother’s intoxication, he writes: “Her intoxication said, please stop. The depression said she was obligated to finish… Two incompatible motivations were in control. She was trapped.”
To find humour and understanding in such darkness is a testament to his humanity and will to survive.
