In November 2014 thirteen members of the Biden family gathered on Nantucket for Thanksgiving a tradition they had been celebrating for the past forty years; it was the one constant in what had become a hectic scrutinized & overscheduled life The Thanksgiving holiday was a time to connect a time to reflect on what the year had brought & what the future might hold But this year felt different from all those that had come before Joe & Jill Biden's eldest son Beau had been diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor fifteen months earlier & his survival was uncertain Promise me Dad Beau had told his father Give me your word that no matter what happens you're going to be all right Joe Biden gave him his word Promise Me Dad chronicles the year that followed which would be the most momentous & challenging in Joe Biden's extraordinary life & career Vice President Biden traveled more than a hundred thousand miles that year across the world dealing with crises in Ukraine Central America & Iraq When a call came from New York or Capitol Hill or Kyiv or Baghdad-Joe I need your help-he responded For twelve months while Beau fought for & then lost his life the vice president balanced the twin imperatives of living up to his responsibilities to his country & his responsibilities to his family & never far away was the insistent & urgent question of whether he should seek the presidency in 2016 The year brought real triumph & accomplishment & wrenching pain But even in the worst times Biden was able to lean on the strength of his long deep bonds with his family on his faith & on his deepening friendship with the man in the Oval Office Barack Obama Writing with poignancy & immediacy Joe Biden allows readers to feel the urgency of each moment to experience the days when he felt unable to move forward as well as the days when he felt like he could not afford to stop This is a book written not just by the vice president but by a father grandfather friend & husband Promise Me Dad is a story of how family & friendships sustain us & how hope purpose & action can guide us through the pain of personal loss into the light of a new future