Bill Tobin

Seamus O'flynn: New York Diaries of an Immigrant Son 1931-1945 Bill Tobin First edition

SEAMUS O'FLYNN IS IN LOVE WITH NEW YORK CITY. His diaries of an immigrant son begin during the Great Depression. The O'Flynns, Irish Catholic immigrants, keep body and soul together at St. Nicholas Church and School in the Bronx. A few steps away is a redbrick apartment building, home of the O'Flynns and other immigrant families. Seamus' New York adventures begin every time he drops a nickel in the subway turnstile and heads to the Empire State Building, Yankee Stadium, Macy's, the Metropolitan Museum, Times Square, Ebbets Field. It is the era of President Roosevelt, Mayor LaGuardia, Joe DiMaggio, Varga Girls, Charles Atlas. Seamus becomes an altar boy, Safeway thief, dumbwaiter Romeo, joins the Mortal Sinners Club. A nun whacks hands; a priest has roaming hands. Just as The Great Depression subsides, World War II begins - Pearl Harbor, Japs, Nazis, rationing, SPAM, Thunderbolts, Zeroes, Stukas, the sadness of a Gold Star in the window. The O'Flynn family lives through one of the most chaotic times in American history, strengthened by faith, hard work and sunny Irish hearts.