A River Still Runs
A Memoir by Fran Coughlin
In A River Still Runs, Fran Coughlin returns to the Lowell, Massachusetts neighborhood that shaped him-a place of triple-deckers, corner stores, and kitchen-table confessions. The third volume in his Liberty Street series, this moving memoir revisits the people, places, and moments that defined an Irish Catholic family in the 1960s and '70s-and how the echoes of those years still ripple through his life today.
With humor, honesty, and grace, Coughlin paints a vivid portrait of growing up in a working-class home where laughter was abundant, privacy was scarce, and love showed up in unexpected ways. Through small but unforgettable moments-a lost hockey puck, a quiet act of kindness, a conversation that comes too late-he explores what it means to remember, to forgive, and to keep going when the past won't stay put.
From the innocence of childhood to the complicated tenderness of looking back, A River Still Runs is both a celebration of ordinary lives and an unflinching look at how family, loss, and resilience shape who we become. It's a story for anyone who has ever gone home again-only to realize that home lives as much in memory as it does in place.
Heartfelt, funny, and deeply human, Coughlin's memoir reminds us that the people we carry with us-our parents, our siblings, our younger selves-remain part of the current that never stops moving beneath the surface of our lives.
Perfect for readers who enjoy:
Memoirs of family and childhood
Irish American and New England stories
Nostalgic, heartfelt storytelling about the 1960s and 1970s
True stories about love, loss, and home
Also by Fran Coughlin:
On the Corner of Liberty and South Loring (Book One)
Tales from a Refrigerator Box (Book Two)
