A daughters memoir about growing up in the home of Sir Bob Jones
Frances Jones, the daughter of Sir Bob Jones, tells the story of a childhood lived in the orbit of an outsized father and the women who moved through his life— and hers.
Sir Robert “Bob” Jones built one of New Zealand's great fortunes and, along the way, became one of New Zealand’s most controversial public figures. But he was also careless of the women in his orbit, leaving behind a number of wives, girlfriends and partners and fathering nine children.
Frances Jones grew up inside the house the headlines came from, in a house full of women. In this heartbreaking, searing, hilarious memoir, Jones tells the story of life as her father’s daughter —
painting a picture of his great wit and charisma but also the rages, interruptions and cancellations he
forced on others. Just as importantly, she considers with deep empathy the women caught up in her
father’s orbit who raised her and her sister: his girlfriends, partners and second wife; her grandmother
and aunts; and her beloved, sorrowful mother. This is a memoir of money, masculinity and inheritance, told with a daughter's clear eye and real warmth for the women who raised her.