I've never read this author before. This is a gripping account of how the past is never dead . People work hard to bury the "sins of our Fathers", but they never really go away. This book opens with that premise. The lead character is always made aware of the failings of his Father. In the "respectability culture" we live in now, he truly laments his family's past, and is prone to drown himself in alcohol to forget his lineage. It also appears there are other issues and twisted turns in this story that will leave a reader, in a constant state of surprise. This is not your normal "conflicted lawyer" story. This story is about real things, that real people struggle and attempt to manage over the generations of a family. The sins of the Father are never really gone.