Two Families: An Irish Melodrama

Two immgrants from Irish families, the Flynns and the Clintons, one rich, the other poor, my parents, come to America, meet on a blind date, and marry. Britain's occupation of Ireland, which abetted the exodus of Ireland's poor, begins the story. The Clinton family escaped to America as fast as my father earned their ocean passage. My mother, the only one of her family to immigrate to America, not your typical Irish immigrant, moved down the social ladder when she came to America. This collective memoir follows the two families, often in their own words, through time. Although the Flynns enjoyed lives of comfort, they also endured tragedy and the aimless wandering of the youngest son. The Clintons experienced tragedies as a matter of course. The story closely tracks my family through the Great Depression and World War II, lives filled with laughter, tears, surprises, secrets, behavioral missteps, and disappointments. Our parents' ethnic background, their superstitious natures, and their devotion to the Catholic Church shaped a good part of their behavior and, in turn, ours. My father's death in 1953 closes the body of the memoir. The epilogues provides "the rest of the story."