First published 2014
Eileen Tumulty grows up in a Woodside, Queens apartment where her Irish immigrant parents create chaos that shifts between joy and sorrow depending on the company and the bottle. Born in 1941, she dreams of escaping to a more sophisticated life. When she meets Ed Leary, a quiet scientist unlike the volatile men of her childhood, she believes he will be her ticket to that better world. After they marry, Eileen pushes Ed toward bigger ambitions: promotions, social connections, a house that matches her vision of success. But Ed resists her plans, and his reluctance grows into something darker and more troubling. As psychological shadows creep into their marriage, Eileen, Ed, and their son Connell struggle to maintain their grip on the life they once knew and the future they had imagined together.
Genres: american-fiction, 20th-century, contemporary, adult-fiction, 21st-century, family-drama
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: character-driven, family-dynamics, slice-of-life
Setting: Woodside, Queens
Period: 1941
620 pages · Hardcover · Simon & Schuster
Content warnings: mental-illness