THE STORY: Growing up with a hard-drinking, absentee father and an emotionally volatile mother who alternated between abuse and affection, Dalton Possett, now a young school teacher, is still affected by nightmares and self-doubt--and finds it diffi

Reprint of the original, first published in 1859.

This historical novel is one of the best-known works by the Irish writer Charles James Lever, first published in 1852. Excertp: "While Ellen loved to dwell upon the great advantages of one who should be like a father to the boy, aiding him by wise counsel, and guiding him in every difficulty, Kate preferred to fancy the Count introducing Frank into all the brilliant society of the splendid capital, presenting him to those whose acquaintance was distinction, and at once launching him into the world of fashion and enjoyment. The promptitude with which he acceded to their father's application on Frank's behalf, was constantly referred to as the evidence of his affectionate feeling for the family; and if his one solitary letter was of the very briefest and driest of all epistolary essays, they accounted for this very naturally by the length of time which had elapsed since he had either spoken or written his native language."