Paperback Edition
ISBN: 9781558612747
Publication Date: 10-01-2001

Afterword by Barbara Horn

A middle-aged daughter, Pat, tries to prevent her ailing father from driving in this funny and heart-rending tale from award-winning author Dorothy Bryant. The story details the frustrating push and pull between Pat and her eighty-year-old father who is taking his third and final "test on appeal" to renew his driver's license—revealing the dramatic, awkward, and universal struggle with aging, memory, and parental love.

"Wryly comic, . . . Bryant's examinations of thorny, contemporary relationships have docudrama punch, building as they do on sharp, harsh recognitions: a masterful portrait." —Kirkus Reviews

"For nearly twenty years, Berkeley novelist Dorothy Bryant has consistently and amazingly anticipated the events and issues of her time. . . .The Test offers the kind of fiercely wise observations we have come to expect of Bryant." —San Francisco Chronicle

"The cutting incisiveness of the characterizations, the delicate balance between tragedy and humor, the entire tautness and clarity and the depths of feeling come through. . . . A vividly alive glimpse into the human condition." —Ella Leffland, author of Breath and Shadows