Böcker av Kevin William Hutchins

Prodigal Father is narrated by Patience Montgomery. She is a woman who had married into an east-coast, Polish-Italianfamily but longs to be reunited with her not-so-traditional west-coast relatives.She misses the siblings who can hardly comprehend the stark generationaldifferences that Patience has found in the New York City-metro area, where easternEurope’s Old World culture still lives and thrives.The culture clash Patience had observed had only been a conversation piece until it stared her right in the face, with the passing of her mother-in-law, Rita. Strugglingto pick up the pieces left behind by his wife, the father-in-law of ournarrator becomes less interested in coping than in pointing the finger of blametoward those who had tried to surround him with their love, as he first beganto grieve. The more he blames, the more Patience’s father-in-law alienates those around him. Havinglost his mooring, the erratic patriarch creates fatal divisions in the family untilhis self-centered behavior is suddenly understood. The explanation satisfiessome, but not others, sheds some light, but not much, on the head of the familywho had once been respected, but had now descended into something far less thana father. The hero of the story is the nurse in the family. She withstands every onslaughtfrom the man who had once accompanied her on piano, as she sang to his playing,during regular family occasions. Her inner strength is elusive, yet intriguing,to our narrator. She wants some of what her sister-in-law exhibits butstruggles with how to ask about it. Patience heads back to her California homewondering if she’ll ever learn what, or who, had helped get Cheryl through the manystrange days brought on by her husband’s prodigal father.