A Hole in the Earth — Robert Bausch

At the heart of this compelling novel about why men act the way they do is the profound and affecting story of a family, of what tears them apart and what can bring them back together.
Henry Porter's summer begins when his daughter Nicole-whom he hasn't seen since his wife divorced him five years ago-shows up on his doorstep. Nicole is a surprise; just graduated from high school-almost an adult-the gap between the little girl Henry once knew and the woman she has become leaves him fumbling for words. Days after Nicole arrives, Henry's girlfriend, Elizabeth, reveals that she is pregnant. Henry is speechless at these two events, throwing into sharp relief his emotional landscape. He best deals with situations like these by heading off to the racetrack in time to make the daily double, and to place a few bets.
As Rick Bass writes, "a beautiful and aching novel, alarming in its wisdom and treatment of one of the great terrors, loneliness, and one of the great mercies, forgiveness."