Rosalind had two mommies. Now, thanks to a tragic accident involving foodstuffs, she has none. And Sean, the sperm donor responsible for half her DNA (and nothing else), is taking custody. Rosalind finds herself adjusting to a new life that seems both hateful and surreal?she?s an orphan with a new father, surrounded by friends she is beginning to despise and well-meaning adults who succeed only in annoying her.

Sean made a donation fifteen years ago, and his life since has not gone according to plan. Thirty-five, single, and still grieving the loss of his own mother twenty-seven years ago, he decides to take on the overwhelming task of caring for an unhappy teenager he doesn?t know.

Told entirely through e-mail, instant messaging, journal entries, and other random communications, Donorboy is the comic, compellingly readable novel of how these two people learn to converse, cook, write heavy-metal songs, and nail windows shut on their way to becoming a family. Brendan Halpin has written a universal story of how we laugh, cry, and occasionally punch our way to a new life in the face of tragedy.

"A teenage girl becomes the ward of her sperm-donor father after losing both of her gay parents in a bizarre accident in this first novel, a modern spin on grief, catharsis and the art of parenting told in journal entries and electronic missives. Rosalind Butterfield is the rebellious but sweet 14-year-old whose home life is suddenly decimated when her two lesbian parents — one of whom is a former sitcom star — die in a freak accident. Rosalind's unlikely new guardian is her biological father, Sean Cassidy, a geeky, single public-service lawyer whose lack of parenting experience turns the initial chapters into a comedy of errors, starting with his first icy meeting with Rosalind. She writes about her life in a grief journal that she dubs 'Fluffy'; he fills her in on his past in a series of e-mails. The tide begins to turn for Sean when he defends Rosalind at a school expulsion hearing after she decks a hockey player for making fun of her late mom, and slowly Sean and Rosalind cobble together an uneasy relationship that allows them to co-exist and finally respect each other. The unusual setup may strike some potential readers as contrived, but Halpin's storytelling flair and compassion make this an engrossing read. Agent, Curtis Brown Ltd. (Aug.)" Publishers Weekly (Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information, Inc.)

?Donorboy is a lively and exhilarating novel that reminds us that comedy and tragedy aren't opposites at all; by laying them side by side, Brendan Halpin adds weight to his funny moments and lightness to his sad ones. A touching and utterly engaging book." —Carolyn Parkhurst, author of The Dogs of Babel

“Donorboy is a lively and exhilarating novel that reminds us that comedy and tragedy aren't opposites at all; by laying them side by side, Brendan Halpin adds weight to his funny moments and lightness to his sad ones. A touching and utterly engaging book."

-Carolyn Parkhurst, author of The Dogs of Babel

"Brendan Halpin's great gift as a writer is to hold his reader's heart in two worlds simultaneously-- one achingly funny, the other heartbreakingly sad. I read Donorboy in one sitting, my heart simultaneously cracked open and healed. What a beautiful, elegiac, laugh-out-loud book. In Donorboy, Halpin has redefined the epistolary novel."

-Alison McGhee, author of Shadow Baby and Was It Beautiful?