"Family and Love" is available in e-book format,
for US$2.99 on www.ebooks.com
I have 4 other ebooks on the site also.
Search the titles & my name on the main site page
"English Poems and Writings",
"English Short Stories",
"Easy Spoken English",
are all published under my name, Paul Tagney,
"Internet Girls", is published under my pen-name, Tom Harding
On the ebooks.com promo pages, click on the book covers to read the first three chapters of each book.
Click "Services" on this site menu, to read excerpts from chapters, 1-16, of "Family and Love".
“Family And Love”
Synopsis: Originally written in 1969, when he was twenty-four, Paul’s book initially describes his early years in Bristol, England, a brief torrid equatorial experience, and subsequent immigration by ship to Canada in 1953.
Numerous challenges and adaptations spring from this major uprooting. We share them through Paul’s interesting and descriptive record of growing up in the fifties and sixties, initially in rural Alberta, followed by later childhood & adolescent experiences in a small town on the Ottawa River, west of Montreal.
Next comes life in Montreal during the 60's, with all its' social, cultural, and musical changes. As Paul’s story goes along life’s road, he fills it with many unique, clearly creative descriptions of Nature, during all seasons.
Challenges such as a negative father-son relationship, are more than balanced by bonding with a best-friend's family, time & escapades with other friends, & young early-parenthood.
Review #1: "Buckle up and take a wild ride through the 50’s & 60’s! Paul Tagney’s new e-book, Family and Love, gives an unflinchingly honest, gritty account of growing up in Canada as a baby boomer. And this baby boomer did not have an easy childhood. Running throughout the story is the motif of Paul trying to come to terms with the negative impact of his father. He searches for meaningful connection through each of these early stages with little success. But this search is truly fascinating, at times disturbing and sometimes downright harsh. Written when he was 24 years old, Paul manages to capture vividly the voice of each stage in his early wounded life -the young boy, the awkward adolescent, the rebellious teenager and finally the young, confused adult. In staccato-like paragraphs he recounts a huge variety of experiences such as the often harsh, insensitive treatment of his father, his awe at the many beauties of the Canadian landscape, nasty attacks of boyhood bullies, his many sexual experiences, & his profound love for his newborn son. Family and Love is an intensely personal portrait of one young man’s attempt to find redemption and it’s one helluva read." - Richard Zajchowski, Instructor, Camosun College, Victoria, B.C., Canada.
Review # 2: Review of the Memoir "Family and Love" By Uta Christensen July 7, 2014
"Family
and Love is an intricate and moving memoir of a boy, named Paul,
growing up to age eight in Bristol, England, until his father has the
urge to leave England and move to Canada. After trying out Alberta and
not being too fond of it, the family was soon moving to French Canada,
to the rural town of Harding near Montreal. Young Paul soon finds out
that in this new part of Canada, schools were separated into French and
English speaking schools. Naturally the English schools were fewer and
rated second. In addition, since the family had been living out west,
Paul, to his great disappointment, was now put again into fourth grade
instead of going into fifth. One must assume that the French-speaking
part of Canada did not think as highly of the schooling in the English
speaking Western part of Canada. Despite his great disappointment, Paul
carries on in Harding and lives there until he graduates from high
school. Being a very likable boy, he makes many friends. However,
right after leaving high school, he decides to move to the big city
Montreal, separated from his family as well as his friends for good so
it is assumed. But eventually Paul ends up back in Harding in a heart
wrenching situation.
Part One of "Family and Love" deals with Paul's
connection with his family--a mother who hardly comes into the picture
early on, but an overly strict, unfeeling father who dominates Paul's
life as long as he lives with his parents.
His father makes the boy's
school years miserable. He is a grammar school teacher, and he teaches
in Paul's school. He oftentimes embarrasses his son in class in front
of his fellow students. The reader oftentimes wonders how much a
sensitive boy like Paul can cope under such circumstances. But
surprisingly he does cope as best as he can without ever feeling love or
even respect for his bullying and repressive father. During his high
school years, Paul, in the company of his friends, becomes a virtual
alcoholic as the young guys go on nightly drinking sprees; and the reader
at this point is afraid for Paul's life and well-being. When Paul
finally graduates from high school and is expected to get a higher
education, he suddenly leaves the family and moves to Montreal.
Part Two is the moving story of Paul's late teenage years as he tries to cope
with life totally on his own. He lives cheaply at the YMCA in
Montreal, has a job he eventually hates and sets out on the journey of
finding love, as he is now at a
stage of intense love and sensual prowess. His search for love leads him to girls who fall for him, and gladly share their own desires with him.
It is not surprising that he is eventually
confronted with a pregnancy. He seems to love the girl and proposes
marriage to her, and they do get married. All throughout the pregnancy,
he finds that his wife is not the person anymore he used to love.
Their relationship is deteriorating fast, but Paul is determined to stick
with the situation. When the son is born, Paul falls in love with this
tiny baby, named Kurt, whereas the mother becomes more and more
detached from her baby son. It takes two years until the couple parts.
After the parting, little Kurt stays with Paul who truly loves his son
and is determined for his sake to finally go to college, devote himself
to his studies until he earns a degree and can become a teacher.
The
ending of "Family and Love" is surprisingly and wonderfully different from
its beginning.
It started with an unloving and even punishing father,
and it ends with a loving father who sacrifices his coveted freedom to
give his baby son the best life, love and upbringing he can manage.
Even Paul's mother, since he is now back in Harding, helps with taking
care of baby Kurt during the day while father Paul is at college..."
"Family and Love" is available in e-book format,
for US$2.99 on www.ebooks.com
I have 4 other ebooks on the site also.
Search the titles & my name on the main site page
"English Short Stories",
"Easy Spoken English",
are all published under my name, Paul Tagney,
"Internet Girls", is published under my pen-name, Tom Harding
On the ebooks.com promo pages, click on the book covers to read the first three chapters of each book.
“Family And Love”
Originally written in 1969, when he was twenty-four, Paul’s book initially describes his early years in Bristol, England, a brief torrid equatorial experience, and subsequent immigration by ship to Canada in 1953.
Numerous challenges and adaptations spring from this major uprooting. We share them through Paul’s interesting and descriptive record of growing up in the fifties and sixties, initially in rural Alberta, followed by later childhood & adolescent experiences in a small town on the Ottawa River, west of Montreal.
Next comes life in Montreal during the 60's, with all its' social, cultural, and musical changes. As Paul’s story goes along life’s road, he fills it with many unique, clearly creative descriptions of Nature, during all seasons.
Challenges such as a negative father-son relationship, are more than balanced by bonding with a best-friend's family, time & escapades with other friends, & young early-parenthood.
Review #1: "Buckle up and take a wild ride through the 50’s & 60’s! Paul Tagney’s new e-book, Family and Love, gives an unflinchingly honest, gritty account of growing up in Canada as a baby boomer. And this baby boomer did not have an easy childhood. Running throughout the story is the motif of Paul trying to come to terms with the negative impact of his father. He searches for meaningful connection through each of these early stages with little success. But this search is truly fascinating, at times disturbing and sometimes downright harsh. Written when he was 24 years old, Paul manages to capture vividly the voice of each stage in his early wounded life -the young boy, the awkward adolescent, the rebellious teenager and finally the young, confused adult. In staccato-like paragraphs he recounts a huge variety of experiences such as the often harsh, insensitive treatment of his father, his awe at the many beauties of the Canadian landscape, nasty attacks of boyhood bullies, his many sexual experiences, & his profound love for his newborn son. Family and Love is an intensely personal portrait of one young man’s attempt to find redemption and it’s one helluva read." - Richard Zajchowski, Instructor, Camosun College, Victoria, B.C., Canada.
Review # 2: Review of the Memoir "Family and Love" By Uta Christensen July 7, 2014
Part Two is the moving story of Paul's late teenage years as he tries to cope with life totally on his own. He lives cheaply at the YMCA in Montreal, has a job he eventually hates and sets out on the journey of finding love, as he is now at a stage of intense love and sensual prowess. His search for love leads him to girls who fall for him, and gladly share their own desires with him.
It is not surprising that he is eventually confronted with a pregnancy. He seems to love the girl and proposes marriage to her, and they do get married. All throughout the pregnancy, he finds that his wife is not the person anymore he used to love. Their relationship is deteriorating fast, but Paul is determined to stick with the situation. When the son is born, Paul falls in love with this tiny baby, named Kurt, whereas the mother becomes more and more detached from her baby son. It takes two years until the couple parts. After the parting, little Kurt stays with Paul who truly loves his son and is determined for his sake to finally go to college, devote himself to his studies until he earns a degree and can become a teacher.
The ending of "Family and Love" is surprisingly and wonderfully different from its beginning.
