This classic memoir of a colourful but poverty-stricken childhood opens on St Patrick’s Day, 1936. Abandoned once again by the feckless father of the family, the six-year-old author, his sister Anne-Marie and their spirited but fragile mother are suddenly thrown back on their own resources in an America mired in the Great Depression.

With his moving, tough and humorous storytelling , Trevanian paints a vivid picture of life in the heart of the Irish slums, and of the indomitable women who brought life and colour to the world his childhood.