My Father in the Night [Mass Market Paperback]

Terence Clarke (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 23, 1992

Dismissed from his job at Saints Peter and Paul Church, altar boy Patrick Pearse is torn between the lure of 1950s bohemian San Francisco, full of beatniks and poetry readings, and the influence of his conservative father. Reprint. LJ. PW.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

As a raw young recruit in the Irish Republican Brotherhood, Michael "MJ" Pearse guarded a kidnapped elderly prisoner and fingered the man's son, whom IRB terrorists then murdered. Now, some 45 years later, MJ carries massive guilt from that incident, a guilt that distorts his relationships with his kin in San Francisco of the late 1950s, where most of this rich, engrossing novel is set. Concealing his own political past, MJ openly disapproves of his son Joe, a lawyer who supports the IRA. And angry, impatient, argumentative Joe showers bombastic criticism on his own son, 11-year-old Patrick, who hangs out with black-clad beatniks and resists paternal efforts to mold him into "a good Catholic." Wives play rather shadowy roles in this story, moderating their spouses' obduracy. Still, Clarke ( The Day Nothing Happened ) has fashioned a probing, amazingly vivid portrait of an Irish-American family seething with emotional, political and intergenerational conflict.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

This coming-of-age tale, set in San Francisco in the 1950s, is the second novel by the author of The Day Nothing Happened ( LJ 8/88). The narrative follows 11-year-old Patrick Pearse as he swings emotionally between the comforting rituals of Catholicism and the anarchic appeal of the city's beatnik culture. Complicating this internal struggle is the tug-of-war between the two people most important in his life. His grandfather, trying to assuage guilt about his criminal life with the Irish Republican Brotherhood decades earlier, condemns his father's support of the modern IRA. Clarke has blended these elements into an engaging narrative with appealing characters and contemporary relevance. Recommended for all serious fiction collections.
- A.J. Wright, Univ. of Alabama, Birmingham
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback
• Publisher: Ballantine Books (May 23, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 034537567X
• ISBN-13: 978-0345375674
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.2 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 ounces
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,171,360 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Novelist, journalist and film maker Terence Clarke lives in San Francisco. He is the author of four critically acclaimed novels published by Mercury House, Ballantine Books and El Morocho Books: The Day Nothing Happened, My Father In The Night, The King of Rumah Nadai and A Kiss For Señor Guevara.