William E. Kennedy

The Singing Bone William E. Kennedy First edition

Liam Stone operates within a band of emotion that never touches his self imposed safety limits; no severe pain, yet no great joy. The death of his widowed mother in an automobile accident and a meeting with his father's best friend, a Catholic priest, convince him that he is aware of only a small portion of who his parents truly were. He learns of the existence of a group of ledgers that his father had hidden. He finds the ledgers, but can't read # eleven. A severe case of tinnitus stops him every time he touches the book. Each bout with the ledger loosens images of people and events from the 19th and early 20th century, including his father as a young man. He starts to remember names and stories that no one had ever told him. His memories go back three generations to an 1850 North Atlantic crossing from New Ross to New Orleans. He stops work on his second book of poetry and writes a novel formed from these images. After the novel's publication, Liam has a shocking revelation.