This book will be especially meaningful for anyone who grew up in a home with a special needs sibling. Maura Conlon-McIvor's memories of being a little girl in the home of such a reticent father are striking in their freshness. Her experience of life with her Down's brother is similar to my own experience with a sister with Muscular Dystrophy - a certain sense of isolation, development of empathy at an uncommonly young age, a need to be pleasing to our parents, and the necessity for independence. The book made me reflect on my youth and I found some comfort in reading the sometimes painful truths that were so similar to my own. When she broke through with her father, ever so subtly, I felt the lightness of relief that she must have felt that day.

A great read about an Irish-American family of the 1960's.
As a former Catholic school girl, I could connect with Maura's childhood in so many ways. It is touching, funny and a poignant memoir involving a father-daughter relationship and what it meant at those times to have a Down's Syndrome child in your family. I loved this book!