Genuine, unflinching, and quietly absorbing…
In her debut, Casey delivers a steady, clear-eyed portrait of a childhood defined by poverty, alcoholism, and the relentless weight of chronic illness. The youngest of six in a working-class Irish Catholic family, Casey grows up under a mother’s firm, Army-shaped discipline and a father’s volatile mix of charm, drinking, and infidelity. Their mother keeps the household steady as their father’s moods and absences cast an ongoing shadow. When Ellen falls sick, the confident, athletic sister Casey adored disappears into a long medical decline that overtakes the family. Hospital corridors replace normal childhood rhythms, loyalties shift, and tensions rise.
As Ellen’s health declines further, Casey becomes acutely aware of the chaos at home—her father’s affair, his rages, the family’s constant financial strain. The confusion and fear shape Casey’s early view of herself, and she later traces her addiction and eventual recovery back to these years. Despite its heartbreak the narrative is threaded with small, surprising moments of tenderness: siblings finding ways to laugh, neighbors stepping in, her mother singing opera in the projects. By the end of the book, what remains is not only the story of a sister who died too young, but the story of a woman who spent decades learning to carry her memory without being crushed by it. Readers looking for a story that blends family dysfunction with resilience and grace will find Casey’s account deeply compelling.
A triumph.
Pub date April 1, 2025
Skyhorse
ISBN 1510780777978-1510780774
Price $24.98 (USD) Hardcover, $16.99 Kindle edition
