By Edwin O'Connor

All in the Family, first published in 1964, is a portrait of the Kinsellas, a prominent and proud Irish-American New England clan: Uncle Jimmy at its head; his three sons—James, Phil and Charles; and their cousin Jack, the novel’s narrator. Jack and his cousins become fast friends in boyhood, and these friendships endure as they grow up—James to the priesthood, Phil and Charles to the law, and Jack, after a brief foray in politics (recounted in The Last Hurrah), to the life of a novelist. When Uncle Jimmy incites the Charles Kinsella Mayoral Campaign, Jack declines to join, despite Phil’s promises that victory will mean the scouring of all parasitical scum infesting their beloved city. But even as Charles leaps from the mayoralty to the governorship, and the Kinsellas reach the height of their success, a threat looms over them, ready to violently disrupt, if not outright destroy, this fiercely loyal family.

“Among themselves they argued as much as anybody, but this was all in the family; whenever anything outside the family came up they were all very loyal to each other and always stuck together.”

Infused with the romantic, tragicomic spirit which dwells at the heart of the Irish-American experience, All in the Family is an expansive, highly readable tale with an unforgettable denouement.

Edwin O’Connor (1918–1968) was an American author, critic, and novelist. With his 1956 novel The Last Hurrah, he was hailed “as one of the most gifted interpreters of American life” (The Chicago Tribune). Also available from Cluny is O’Connor’s 1962 novel, The Edge of Sadness, which was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in Fiction.

Paperback: 384pp.

ISBN: 978-1949899887