The Bright Freight of Memory

A PEN/Faulkner Literary Award and National Book Award Nominee

". . . Fields has once again firmly established himself in the ranks of America's finest fiction writers." -Ray Carson Russell, author of Philurius College Blues

"A compelling read that resonates with tragic realism and literary excellence." -Glenn R. Miller, author of Doorman Wanted

In the end I believe our flaws define us more than our virtues. Shakespeare's greatest plays, the tragedies, revolved around their heroes' flaws rather than their glories.

Matthew Cooney and Donal Mannion shared their time as boys in a rundown neighborhood, without fathers, without comfort, without a sense of tomorrow, then went their separate ways, one to chase the trappings of maturity, the other to the streets. Their days shrouded in boredom, their nights filled with the thrill of the chase, each sought his place and his purpose.

Within their struggles are the challenges of escape, of outrunning the roll of the dice that placed them where they are, and, in the end, of defining what it means to be alive, to constantly strive for the things that are just out of reach.