Promise me, dad (Pan Macmillan)

The Instant #1 New York Times Bestseller 'Biden splices a heartbreaking story with an election story and a foreign affairs story. And in so doing, he offers something for everyone, no matter which strand draws you in' - The New York Times Book Review From President-Elect Joe Biden, winner of the 2020 United States presidential election, Promise Me Dad is his deeply moving memoir about the year that would forever change both a family and a country.

In November 2014, thirteen members of the Biden family gathered for their traditional Thanksgiving celebration. But this year felt different from previous. Joe and Jill Biden's eldest son, Beau, had been diagnosed with a malignant brain tumour fifteen months earlier, and his survival was uncertain.

'Promise me, Dad,' Beau had told his father. 'Give me your word that no matter what happens, you're going to be all right.' Joe Biden gave him his word. Promise Me, Dad chronicles the year that followed, which would be the most momentous and challenging in Joe Biden's extraordinary life and career.

Vice President Biden travelled more than a hundred thousand miles that year, across the world, dealing with crises in Ukraine, Central America and Iraq. While Beau fought for, and then lost his life, the Vice President balanced the twin imperatives of living up to his responsibilities to his country and his responsibilities to his family, while contemplating the insistent and urgent question of whether he should seek the presidency in 2016.

Even in the worst times, Biden was able to lean on the strength of his long, deep bonds with his family, on his faith, and on his deepening friendship with the man in the Oval Office, Barack Obama. Promise Me, Dad is a story of how family and friendships sustain us and how hope, purpose and action can guide us through the pain of personal loss into the light of a new future.

Promise Me, Dad is Joe Biden's poignant account of the most challenging year of his vice-presidency and the second-most difficult year of his life. More than anything else, the book is a reminder of the importance of politics: how much elections can change the trajectory of a country, and how different America has become one year after Donald Trump was elected president.

* The Guardian * Promise Me, Dad is Joe Biden's poignant, instructive and deeply affecting account of a family's struggle against a vicious brain cancer, played out against the demands of his job as vice president and the temptations of another run for the presidency.