First published 2018
Sally's father opens the gas taps in their Brooklyn apartment on a cold winter day in the early 1900s. The recently fired subway worker wants to prove that his life belongs to him alone. After the fire, Sister St. Savior arrives to help his pregnant widow navigate what comes next. Sally grows up in this Irish-American Catholic community, surrounded by nuns who dedicate their lives to serving neighborhood families. The suicide that brought her into the world stays unspoken but shapes everything that follows. Across decades, the act tests how far love and sacrifice can stretch, how much forgiveness costs, and whether some things can truly be forgotten. The story moves through multiple generations, following Sally and the religious sisters whose distinct personalities emerge as they tend to their Brooklyn parish. Decorum and shame work to erase her father's existence, but his final choice echoes through the lives of everyone it touched.
Genres: literary-fiction, american-fiction, historical-fiction, 20th-century, 21st-century, family-drama
Vibes: atmospheric, emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, multigenerational
Setting: Brooklyn
Period: Early 1900s
389 pages · Paperback · Large Print Press
Content warnings: suicide