Laughter With The Tears

Laugher with the Tears is an amusing snapshot of life in a big Irish Catholic family living in Liverpool, England, in the sixties and early seventies. And then having to deal with the upheaval of immigrating to New Zealand. The common thread running through the book is alcohol abuse, violence, fun and laughter, sometimes all at the same time. It's about finally coming to terms with the fact that you can't always laugh away the pain. It catches up with you eventually, and you have to feel it to be able to move on. How does a little girl who was once her Fathers favourite, end up with no relationship with him at all? The book explores this, from the time he was put on a pedestal, until the time he eventually fell off, and beyond. It shows how children see the world very differently from adults. How they notice what's going on around them, and make up their own minds what it's all about. How they blame themselves for things that were never their fault. It looks at childhood through the eyes of an adult, and tries to make sense of it all. This is a story of revelation, forgiveness, and closure. The book is interspersed with original poems that convey the feelings of a particular moment in time.