The Irish Goodbye

In the Irish Goodbye, his latest fiction offering, Hawkins has drawn heavily on his youth growing up in Albany, New York, an Irish-Democratic stronghold where machine boss Dan O'Connell ruled for over twenty-five years. This bittersweet coming-of-age tale harkens back to the mean streets of Albany so eloquently penned by William Kennedy. The protagonist, Brian Reilly, maturing from childhood to adolescence, passes through a tumultuous period of disillusionment, betrayal, and finally redempt...