THE BOY FROM DUBLIN

For fans of Melanie Maure's SISTERS OF BELFAST, a story of resilience, family, and eternal optimism, following a teenage boy's emigration to working-class London in the mid-1950s

Finn O'Byrne's life changes the moment his father leaves the family behind to fight in the Second World War. His mother, incapable of managing her large brood in his absence, does the unthinkable and Finn is forced into the austere care of Catholic priests. Smart, ambitious and beset by tragedy, Finn finds a way to survive. When he ages out of the orphanage, He starts as a coal man, barely a teenager, and scrapes just enough money together to try for a better life in London. When he begins to see success selling Hoover vacuums, he meets someone who will change his life foreverif only he can convince her to leave everythingand everyonethey know and love behind. As an Irishman navigating working class London in the '50s, Finn fights against class imbalances, as well as the haunting family history he can't outrun. He eventually finds himself sinking deeper and deeper into London's underbelly, becoming a front runner for East London's most notorious gangster brothers, George and Gerry Faustus. He works hard to keep his growing relationship with Margaret Baumann, a posh English girl far beyond his reach, separate from his criminal ties, but as the lines between his two worlds begin to blur, keeping them apart becomes impossibleand the consequences may be devastating. With his future on the line, careening against the pull of a darker life that promises everything he once had, he must decide where home truly lies, in the arms of the girl he loves, or in the shadow of a past that refuses to let him go. BRONWYN BRENNAN's debut novel is inspired by the life of her late grandfather. Brennan, a writer based in Toronto, has published short fiction in journals across Canada and when not writing, she can be found at the Hockey rink, coaching the next generation of hockey players.