An Embarrassment Of Riches by Gerald Hansen

 

Ursula returned to her hometown of Derry six years ago.  She wanted to see her family and take care of her elderly mother.  But then she and her husband Jed had hit the lottery.  They bought their dream house and new cars for each of them.  Ursula renovated her mother's house and paid off her brother and sister-in-law's mortgage.  But her sister-in-law, Fionnuala and her brood of children consider Ursula a cash machine.  When the money starts running low, they turn against her in a campaign of causing misery dating back to Ursula's big scandal in the 1970's.

Fionnuala's family is a scandal in itself.  Her oldest child is in prison.  The next boy is dealing drugs on the street and owes his dealers money.  Her daughter gets pregnant and is unsure who the lucky father might be, there being plenty of candidates.  Another son has fallen in love with petrol bombs and mugging elderly pensioners on the street.  Finally, her youngest daughter, about to make her First Communion, is ready to take up drug dealing and gets the money for her Communion gown by going to the local IRA group and getting them to fund it.  

Gerald Hansen has lived all over the world but he has strong roots in Derry, which was his mother's hometown.  He has this series which has several books following the woes of these feuding families and a mystery series, both set in Derry.  Although everyone in the book is despicable in some way, Hansen's method of relaying their troubles and tribulations had me laughing on every page.  The book is written in Derry slang so it takes a minute to adjust but these families are ones that the reader will long remember.  This book is recommended for literary fiction readers.