Father's Troubles

Father's Troubles, a double time-frame period piece, is set in Depression era West Virginia. In an attempt to overcome his humble beginnings, bank president and real estate tycoon Lawrence Burgher lets his greed and arrogance overrun his better judgment as he engages in financial corner cutting. His self-indulgence lands him in prison and his family in such disgrace that they develop a cloak of secrecy in which they shroud the next generation for over forty years. The truth about what caused Father's troubles finally surfaces because his granddaughter, Maggie Malone, refuses to let drop a remark her mother makes one summer afternoon.

The novel weaves Maggie's search for the truth of the family myth with her grandfather's rags-to-riches to tragic-death saga. The juxtaposition of the contemporary and period stories shows the powerful impact this well-kept secret had on the entire family, but more importantly on Maggie's own troubled relationship with her mother.

Like A Woman of Independent Means, the novel employs letters as an integral part of the story. Lawrence Burgher is modeled on one of the author's grandparents and the novel is based on fact.