The divine Ryans

Wayne Johnston is Canada's Roddy Doyle" Anne-Marie McDonald, author of Fall Down on Your Knees

Young Draper Doyle Ryan lives in a most peculiar household. His relations, proudly eccentric and passionately Catholic, run a rather shabby newspaper, a funeral home, a convent and an orphanage. When they're not attending wakes or going to confession, they're watching Hockey Night in Canada, cheering for their beloved -- and Catholic -- Montreal Canadiens in their never-ending jousts with the Protestant Toronto Maple Leafs.

A bewildered Draper Doyle tries to make sense of all this. But he's plagued by the first stirrings of his own budding sexuality. Then there are the sudden ghostly appearances of his recently deceased father. What is the secret behind that death, he wonders. And will the Habs beat the Leafs and win the Stanley Cup?

Canadian reviews:
"An authentic comic genius" Montreal Gazette
"An absolute stunner -- achingly funny, needle sharp and packing an unexpected wallop . . . The literary equivalent of a small-budget movie masterpiece with heart, soul and brains" Time Out