Follow the Sun

Praise for Follow the Sun Big Other Most Anticipated Small Press Book selection Delaney tells multiple moving stories in his third character-driven novel, each intricately woven into the fabric of the others. . . . [His] portrayal of his characters' struggles to survive their troubled pasts is heartbreakingly realistic and honest, making the suspense and its eventual resolution all the more meaningful. --Booklist Outstanding. . . . Written in an artfully terse style that not only carries the story but conveys a sense of the working-class world it's set in. The dialogue is especially sharp, delivered in quick, polished punches. Characters can be sarcastic, even harsh in their dealings with each other, but their humanity and underlying sorrows come through in every exchange. --Foreword Reviews Leads the reader to a deeper understanding of family and what family represents. . . . Addresses contemporary issues . . . and despair when few options are left in making life choices. The locations in which these decisions are made do not take place in upscale homes and fancy places but on lobster boats, in prison, newspaper offices and local bars. --North of Oxford Follow the Sun is just plain fantastic. Edward J. Delaney has orchestrated a tight, tense page-turner and a harrowing, deeply imagined literary portrait of an entire family, perpetually on the brink of decimation. He lands the reader in perfectly rendered portside bars, small-time newspaper offices, lobster boats, prison. Everywhere, there are the Boyle brothers and their kin, struggling with legacies of poverty, of violence, of the almost lost cause for personal freedom, for modest, hardworking hope. Their lives are done full justice because they are depicted with astonishing precision and artfulness. What a knockout read. --Paul Harding, author of Tinkers and Enon In this pungent, gritty novel, hardscrabble lives are rendered with utter realism, terrific dialogue, and a slow-burning tenderness for all concerned. Delaney's knowledge of this milieu is never in doubt, and his control of the material is masterful. --Phillip Lopate, author of To Show and Tell and A Mother's Tale Praise for Edward J. Delaney and Broken Irish [Delaney] cares about details and understands their importance to the larger themes of loss, desperation, and betrayed loyalties. His characters are not merely vehicles for ideas, but rather fully realized, familiar people, whose failures are heartbreakingly authentic. --Boston Globe [Broken Irish] has a complex plot and a driving, fast-paced narrative. . . . Highly recommended. --Star Tribune Searing, unforgettable. . . .Though Broken Irish deals with dark subjects it doesn't come off as heavy-handed. Exceedingly clever, the connection between the characters isn't revealed until the very end of the book, making you want to go back to the beginning to sort out the pieces and see how these characters' lives are intertwined. --Missourian Glistens with poetic charisma. . . . Delaney does a tremendous job with the different voices. . . . Perspectives jump effortlessly from character to character, brain to heart, motivation to instinct, love to fear. --Brooklyn Rail A masterpiece. --Library Journal (starred review) Beautifully and heartbreakingly balanced. --Kirkus Reviews (starred review) Readers will be captivated. . . . [Delaney] demonstrate great dexterity and storytelling acumen in his lyrical page-turner. --Publishers Weekly (starred review) In an artfully constructed story . . . Delaney tackles corporate corruption, the sex-abuse scandal in the Catholic Church, gun violence, and, especially, alcoholism (in searing passages on the ravages of drink that recall Malcolm Lowry's Under the Volcano). --Booklist (starred review) Muscular and taut. . . . A great story that reaches into a reader's life [and] poses important questions about people, fate and community. --Shelf Awareness for Readers Epic in its scope but relentlessly compelling in its storytelling--not a common combination--Broken Irish is a splendidly readable and richly textured novel. Edward J. Delaney is an enormously gifted writer. --Robert Olen Butler, author of A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain and Perfume River In Delaney's South Boston little is lost, nothing forgotten. Old sins, old wounds haunt his characters, young and old, and reverberate throughout his wonderfully complicated plot. Broken Irish is an enthralling, satisfying novel. --Margot Livesey, author of The Flight of Gemma Hardy and The Hidden Machinery An entire community is on the brink. Hope is the only hope. And faith cannot scrub the grime off its hands. With Broken Irish, Delaney delivers a gripping epic. --Adam Braver, author of Mr. Lincoln's Wars and The Disappeared If you're anything like me, you Will. Not. Be. Able. To. Stop. Reading. --David Abrams, author of Fobbit and Brave Deeds, at the Quivering Pen