A Grand Man

Little Mary Ann and her family are poor and live inMulhattan's Hall. With strong, child-like belief in thepowers of her beloved Da and the Catholic Holy Family,however, the child herself lifts the family out of poverty.She accomplishes this by bullying and charming rich,powerful Mr. Lord, into giving her occasionally-alcoholicfather a farm job which should keep him off the booze.This a a strong novel about families. In view of recentbooks describing family systems, Mary Ann is the youngStar of the family, her loyal, strong personality overshadowsher brother Michael. Her brother takes after their quietermother Lizzie, a rational woman who has fallen in lovewith a sometimes irrational man. He loves his wife andfamily but Mike just can't give up the booze whenever hisself-esteem takes a blow, or if things aren't going well.Keen Mary Ann senses this, and time and again protectsand now we would say enables her drunk father. She won't even say the word drunk, her Da gets "sick" occasionally.Lizzie the mother and Michael the brother can't handleMike's drinking, but Mary Ann, so like her father, knowsjust how to deal with his episodes, no matter how harshor embarrassing Mike becomes. Parish priest Father Owen, knows all about these familyissues from young Mary Ann's Confessions, she poignantlybelieves that the priest in the confessional is tempararilyblinded and can't know who he's talking to. This freesup the priest to be Mary Ann's shoulder to cry on. Mary Annalso gains comfort from kind-hearted neighbor Fanny McBride,her father's only champion. A sometimes heartbreaking look at father/daughter love, andthe first gem in the shining Shaughnessy series.