Dimensions
130 x 197 x 29mm
As Dennis Smith ages from seven to twenty-five, we see him learn life's indelible lessons - how to dodge the slaps of crotchety nuns, wallop a punching bag, refuse to "take crap" from anyone, steal a longed-for kiss, and, finally, stare into death's face.
Street denizen, truant, and hard-living thrill seeker, Smith was, in many ways, a young man slated for failure. For his salvation, he could count on only two things. One was his mother, who at a cost to her own dreams, sometimes hilariously always lovingly, pulled him by the ear into adulthood. The other was his Irish-Catholic heritage, which even his darkest moments whispered to him of success, of the power of faith and family and the force of the written word.
'A Song for Mary' is not just a tale of immigrant life, but a universal story of a mother's love for her child and a child's determination to do his mother proud.
