A Kid from Marlboro Road
A Novel
by Edward Burns
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Pub Date Aug 27 2024 | Archive Date Sep 10 2024
Description
An Irish-American family comes to life through the eyes of a 12-year-old boy in this debut novel by actor-filmmaker Ed Burns.
Immigrants and storytellers, lilting voices and Long Island moxy are all part of this colorful Irish-Catholic community at the end of the 1970s.
A Kid from Marlboro Road opens at a wake where "Kneeney," as his mother calls him, takes in the death of his beloved grandfather, Pop, a larger-than-life figure to him. The overflowing crowd includes sandhogs in their muddy work boots, old Irish biddies in black dresses and cops in uniform, along with the family in mourning. There’s an open casket, the first time he’s seen a dead person.
He watches it all, writing his observations for school projects, not yet realizing how this world defines and explains who he is and will be. His older brother Tommy has no patience for rules and domesticities, his father is emotionally elsewhere. Kneeney knows he’s the best thing his mother's got, though her sadness envelops them both.
Stories cascade between the prior generation’s colorful origins in the Bronx and Hell's Kitchen, and the softer world of Gibson, the town on Long Island where the family lives now. There are scenes in the Rockaways, at Belmont Race Track, and in Montauk. Out of individual struggles a collective warmth emerges, a certain kind of American story, raucous and joyous.
Includes black and white photographs from the author's Irish-American New York family history.
Advance Praise
“Can a brilliant filmmaker be as good on the page? Yes! Ed Burns delights in the printed word. So wrap yourself around this book and give yourself a warm hug with a good read: A Kid from Marlboro Road.” —Malachy McCourt
“In the best tradition of Irish storytelling, Ed Burns draws upon the same Irish Catholic Long Island upbringing he has rendered so beautifully in countless films to tell a deeply personal and wonderfully compelling coming-of-age story dripping with wit, humanity, and stunning authenticity on every page.” —Jonathan Tropper, author of This Is Where I Leave You
“Growing up is a process of becoming and letting go. Edward Burns' A Kid from Marlboro Road captures, through the remarkably true voice of its attentive young narrator, the bittersweet joys and messy confusion of those early teenage years, when one is still tethered to family but readying to face the bigger world. It is a lovely, big-hearted, and wise book.” —Joanne Ramos, author of the national bestseller, The Farm
“Ed Burns knocks it out of the park with this poignant coming-of-age story about a mama’s boy attempting to break free from his mother while her own hopes and dreams fall apart. Beautifully written and heartbreakingly honest, A Kid From Marlboro Road will resonate with both young people seeking independence and older generations who have experienced the pain of letting go. As a soon-to-be empty nester, I laughed, cried, and savored every page.” —Emily Giffin, bestselling author of Something Borrowed
Available Editions
| EDITION | Other Format |
| ISBN | 9781644214077 |
| PRICE | $27.95 (USD) |
| PAGES | 240 |
Links
Available on NetGalley
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