I picked this book up in 2001 in a Target store somewhere in the U.S. during a family summer vacation.

This book really touched me. I don't often read biographical or autobiographical works, but this story of a young boy growing up in Ireland is really moving. The thing I remember most about this story is the hopeless feeling of the young wife and children who suffered because their father would squander the dole on alcohol.

(A note on the physical condition of the book: The cover has once come off this trade paperback and I've glued it back on, so if it happens again, please try to mend it as well.)