This pearl, America

In telling the story of his life, Frank McGovern takes us on a journey from the working-class neighborhood of Liverpool, England where he spent his childhood and apprenticed as a carpenter, to early jobs in Pakistan and Southern Rhodesia, and eventually to America - where he landed with nothing in his pockets and a wife and baby daughter to provide for. The young family moved to San Francisco, where Frank found work on construction projects. With the family growing, they borrowed $14,000 and bought a plot of land across the Golden Gate bridge in Marin county. His wife Gretta found a postal job so her husband could devote full time to building a house. Working seven days a week, with weekend help from friends, neighbors and Gretta, Frank built the house they live in today, 31 years later. Here they raised a family, planted fruit trees and grew vegetables, housed a succession of pet ponies and aging horses, acted in plays with the local theater group, and added to the family income by selling Christmas trees, a business that still thrives. In the end, This Pearl, America is a story of the triumph of the human spirit, told with an abundance of the author's wry wit. Part biography and part inspirational story, it's a tale of challenges and triumphs, showing how much two people united in an abiding love can accomplish with optimism, determination, courage, hope, and strong faith in God.