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In early 1980s Detroit, during the year following the drunk driving death of their alcoholic mother, a chorus of family voices grapple with haunting memories of the joys, regrets and the strains of love that will reverberate throughout all of their lives.
During a Detroit winter’s final snowfall in 1980, feeling fine after a few too many drinks, Hannah Fallon crashes her car through a cyclone fence and into an elm tree, leaving behind a messy wake of love and grief through which her family must wade in the year following her death. The story of the Fallon family, told in retrograde beginning a year out from Hannah’s death through the family members’ varying viewpoints, explores the humor, love, and rancor of a family grappling to keep their tight-knit bonds from unraveling. This elegy of family life under siege, written with Cheeveresque wit, clarity, and intensity, fulfills the promise of a long-awaited first novel.
“A brilliant debut [novel]. . . . O’Malley toggles between the perspectives of each family member, shining light on what they know about one another and themselves while also illuminating their blind spots. It’s an exemplary domestic drama.”—Publishers Weekly (starred)
“Joseph O’Malley’s Starlight and Moonshine is a poignant panorama of the way grief devastates and changes an entire family, separately and together. With evocative prose and astute psychological insights, O’Malley offers a compelling story and characters that will stay with you long after the final page.”—Jessica Treadway, author of Infinite Dimensions
"Grief manifests itself in unique ways throughout this sharp novel. . . .Each character is united in free fall, searching for whatever’s next, linked by a sadness that’s nearly palpable.”—Kirkus Reviews
“A kaleidoscopic portrait of a family perpetually on the verge of disintegration, Starlight and Moonshine is as unflinching as it is tender in its quietly radical vision of love, loss, and the secrets we all keep. O’Malley’s characters are so persuasively alive, they will follow you out of the novel, lingering in your heart and mind long after the final page.” —Antoine Wilson, author of Mouth to Mouth