Shakespeare’s King Lear, who prefers flattery to love, rewards his scheming daughters Regan and Goneril and disowns the faithful Cordelia. Lear goes mad; suicide and deaths ensue. Not one of The Bard’s comedies. For the story of another bad dad, read The Great Stork Derby, based on an actual contest in which a husband pressures his wife to have babies for cash and, fifty years later, learns the true meaning of fatherhood. Read more about the book in NOVELS.
