Rooms of Dust — Sarah Pat O'Brien

Sarah Pat O'Brien's father walks out of her life when she is seven years old. All that remain are dreams of where he might be and when he will return to rescue the family from the poverty, disease, and discrimination they suffer. But he doesn't come back; and with the promise of a better life, they leave Dublin for England, like so many in the 1950s. Years on, when Sarah Pat has children of her own, her shadowy memories drive her to trace her father. A long and painful search reveals he was a soldier, a boxer, a poet, and a bigamist. New life, new wife, new son. Who was the real Patrick O'Brien -- philanderer, liar, and bully, or loving, sophisticated, indulgent father? Looking through the eyes of a child bewildered and betrayed, Sarah Pat O'Brien tells the story of her quest for her father -- and for herself.