A moving novel of a conflicted everyman in 1950s America. The story describes the personal and professional confl icts of quirky members of a large second and third generation Irish clan of primarily educators. Caring relatives are supportive in difficult times while contributing to the small plot twists of daily life. Written by a talented writer with a rich ear for dialogue who magically relates the experiences and perspectives of a variety of family members, speaking in their voices. Based in part on the author's experiences growing up in Somerville, Massachusetts, this is a fictional work of great range and strength in which readers may find echoes of their own lives and family relationships. Robert Crotty (1937-2011) was a student of human nature as he saw it who wrote largely (though not exclusively) from a New England perspective. He received a M.F.A. in English from the Iowa Writers' Workshop during the Raymond Carver years. He also attended the graduate journalism program at the University of Missouri at Columbia. At one point he was a reporter and editor of a Maine newspaper. There were other positions: professor, dean of a college and director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Maine among them. As a Mainer at heart he wrote mostly from Kennebunkport where he and his family lived and later from Portsmouth, New Hampshire where he worked for a time and acted in stage plays. This novel was written in Ireland where Bob brought his family to spend a year in Greystones on the southern coast. The Irish influence is evident. This work is fiction but tinged with the realities of life in the world of greater Boston where Bob grew up.