A Midwinter's Tale (O'Malley Novels) [Mass Market Paperback]

Andrew M. Greeley (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 15, 1999

Stationed in Bamberg, Germany, in the chaotic aftermath of WWII, pint-sized Charles "Chucky" Cronin O'Malley can't seem to keep himself out of harm's way. Whether it be with black marketeers, border patrols, or even his commanding officer, Chucky always seems to land in impossible scrapes, relying on a quick wit and blind luck (or is it Heavenly intervention?) to save his hide. And until the day he meets beautiful seventeen-year-old Trudi, a girl on the run from smugglers and the U.S. Army, he manages to keep himself in one piece. Trudi needs Chucky's help. If he isn't careful though, she may also make off with his heart.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

While pulling occupation duty with the First Constabulary Regiment in post-WWII Bamberg, Germany, brave, "dangerously smart" Sergeant Charles "Chuck" O'Malley is assigned to help an FBI agent locate a family of Nazis wanted by the Russians as war criminals. Told the Russians will shoot the father and rape the mother and two daughters to death, O'Malley determines to save them despite the fact that it will mean violating his oath of trust to his country. In this deft addition to his shelf of novels (after White Smoke), Greeley once again shows his knack for combining solid characterization, folksy prose, a bantamweight sense of history and understated Catholic morality to make highly entertaining fiction. The novel covers Chuck's youth in Depression-ravaged Chicago as part of a large, close-knit family, his love for his sister's best friend, his decision to join the Army in order to acquire money for college and the growth of his moral conscience, especially as he sees the defeated Germans suffering from official corruption, black marketeering and other postwar evils. Laced with sex and enough wit and ambiguity to save the plot from being utterly predictable, this novel should satisfy those looking for spicy yet principled fiction extolling the temporary triumph of good over evil. $100,000 ad/promo.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Sentimentality and nostalgia for bygone days underlie this coming-of-age story from Greeley (Irish Whiskey, LJ 12/97). Remembering the Depression on the West Side of Chicago, "Chucky" Cronin tells of his Irish-Catholic boyhood, his friends, and his dreams for his future. Rosemary Clancy, the daughter of a rich man, is Chucky's childhood nemesis and love. Chucky dreams of a quiet life, only to have his plans altered by World War II. While with the U.S. Army in Germany, he manages to thwart danger, criminals, and army officers through miraculous luck and wit. His wish is to make it back home to Chicago, his family, and, most importantly, Rosemary. The combination of the "good old days" of family values and the romance of World War II makes this story seem cliched, but Greeley fans will love it. Recommended for most public libraries.
-?Georgia Panos, Johnson Cty. Lib. System, Leawood, KS
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 448 pages
• Publisher: Forge Books; 1st Mass Market Ppbk Ed, November 1999 edition (November 15, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0812590252
• ISBN-13: 978-0812590258
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.3 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #627,669 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I loved it - sure!, April 28, 2000

By 

TundraVision (o/~ from the Land of Sky Blue Waters o/~) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Midwinter's Tale (Hardcover)

Father Greeley introduces us to new and captivating fictional (but don't we know real-life folks similiar?) Irish-Catholic families in Chicago and deftly interweaves them with suspense in Post World War II Germany. But, here's a *WARNING* I wish I would have known when I started this book: this is "Part One" of the saga. Unlike the Blackie Ryan or Nuala Ann books, it is NOT self-contained. One must read the 2d of this series, _Younger Than Springtime_, to have even a glimmer of how it all ends. Order both now, so you won't have to pester your Postperson to keep reading ;-) I hope, to complete the saga (still not wholly resolved at the end of _Springtime_,)that there will be a _Summer_ and _Autumn_?

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A good beginning to a new Greeley saga, August 30, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: A Midwinter's Tale (Hardcover)

I enjoyed this book, spending the better part of a Sunday afternoon to finish it. It is the beginning of a series focused on bright and personable young Chuck O'Malley. The young man has the gift for detective work that is a common trait of Greeley's protagonists. While the setting and character types are familiar from other Greeley novels, the story is a pleasant exploration of familiar territory. This story provided a nice balance of action, suspense, and good characters. It's frustration is that it is the first installment in a series and just when you want more the book ends. Of course, the next installment is available as I write this belated review. Chuck O'Malley may just end up on my favorite character list along with Blackie Ryan and the Coynes (Dermot and Naula Ann).

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Greeley's funniest charms, enlightens,w/finest finale ever, March 6, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: A Midwinter's Tale (Hardcover)

The dust jacket says its set on 1947 but the first hundred pages--the funniest he has ever written--are tributes to an American Catholicism circa 1920-1965 at its most grotesque, mean, charitable, and loving. The next hundred give us the most charming faux naif narrator since Huck Finn, while exposing to a new generation what it was like to grow up in the depression and survive into the postWar's endless miracles. The German setting enriches the background of his earlier Blackie book by taking us to a Germany of the generation previous to the Bishop and the Three Kings. Finally, his hero owes us another book--- the culmination of the novel is so powerful that I can only hope it is just ACT One