Overview

What kind of shadow does a family secret cast over the child? Mark Aherne is a middle-aged, married man living in Chicago. He's estranged from his parents in Boston, his father having bullied and belittled him throughout his childhood. One Sunday he receives a desperate phone call from his sister who has been caring for their parents for many years. She needs help: his parents are sick and have started drinking again. Mark soon finds himself back with his sister dealing with their parents' loss of independence. While caring for his parents, he remembers the past when he dealt with his father's emotional effect on him and the family. His memories include many childhood events (both humorous and disturbing) that filled him with guilt and a sense of separation. As he slowly comes to understand his family's dysfunction, he discovers secrets in his parents' lives that led to their own unhappiness. With his mother's dementia and his father's stubborn isolation, Mark fears his own aging as he lays to rest the experiences of his childhood.

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9781732091726

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The story has moments that are touching...which lead readers to an unexpected revelation. - Kirkus Reviews The story...captured family life experiences in an enchanting way. The characters are well developed and the book has a good plot that centered on interpersonal relationships within the family. - Official Review, ILoveUniqueBooks.com

Author Information

Dave Riese grew up in Massachusetts and attended Bates College in Maine, majoring in English literature. During his junior year, he studied at Oxford University. After serving in the Air Force during the Vietnam War, Riese worked at several Boston area companies in computer programing for forty years. Upon retirement in 2012, he had a long talk with himself: If you want to publish a book, you'd better take writing seriously. He subsequently wrote Echo from Mount Royal, a novel about a young woman's strange courtship in 1951 Montreal. He and his wife live north of Boston.

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