The Edge of Sadness

This is the story of a middle-aged priest, and the several worlds in which he finds himself: the exuberant, turbulent, bubbling Irish-American world in which he was born and raised, and the far different, somber, silent, shabby world to which, through various circumstances, his life has taken him.

In this story of past and present, told through the narration of Father Hugh Kennedy, the ordinary, day-to-day life of a priest is portrayed with thoroughness, sympathy, and truth. And what emerges is not merely the history of one man, but a rich cross section of secular and religious life. In this novel, filled with rewarding and completely memorable characters, encompassing several generations of Irish American life, Edwin O'Connor has again created a full and exhilirating world among these people he knows so well. Comedy and pathos, love and despair, loneliness and compassion, a sense of human longing and of human frailty make The Edge of Sadness an unforgettable reading experience.