François Mai
About the Author
François Mai is an author, physician, musician, and lifelong athlete. Born and raised in South Africa of first-generation French ancestry, he became a Canadian citizen in 1977. A graduate of the University of Cape Town, he trained in psychiatry in Britain and the United States. His books include Diagnosing Genius: The Life and Death of Beethoven, With Hope in My Heart, and Mr. François’ Cycling Escapades. He is a Fellow of the Canadian Psychiatric Association and lives in Ottawa.
About the Book
A child born without the name of his father.
A mother burdened by a secret.
A family tested by revolution, exile, and the brutal machinery of history.
Father, Unknown: Revisited is a sweeping, immersive historical novel that follows Marcel Juin from his illegitimate birth in a small village near Vimy through the chaos of the French Revolution, the terror of the guillotine, the rise of Napoleon, and the quiet tragedies of ordinary life.
Raised under a cloud of shame, Marcel forges his identity through relentless work, devotion to family, and a lifelong quest to discover the truth about his origins. In this richly drawn world—of peasants and aristocrats, priests and prisoners, soldiers and settlers—every character bears the marks of a nation in upheaval.
Intimate yet epic, Father, Unknown: Revisited explores resilience, secrecy, love, and the unbreakable thread that binds one generation to the next.
Publisher : True Freedom Press (November 27, 2025)
Language : English
Paperback : 280 pages
ISBN-10 : 1998917215
ISBN-13 : 978-1998917211
