The Furys — James Hanley

A boy returns home from seminary to a family on the verge of collapse

For almost seven years, Mrs. Fury has done nothing but think of Peter. Of her five children, he is the youngest, her darling boy whose future she planned out long ago. It was for Peter that she took one child out of college and married another off -- for Peter that she sent a third to work at sea. She has sacrificed everything so that Peter could return to Ireland to study for the priesthood. He is to be the family's salvation -- but after seven years in seminary, Peter has failed.
 
Mrs. Fury receives two telegrams: One telling her that Peter is coming home, the other bearing the news that her eldest son, Anthony, has fallen from his ship's mast and is in a hospital in New York. With two slips of paper, Mrs. Fury's hopes for the future are dashed. But this Irishwoman is strong as iron, and she will do whatever it takes to keep her family together -- if only for Peter's sake.
 
The Furys is the first book of James Hanley's acclaimed Furys Saga.