Seamus (Dynamite Jim) O 'Bannon and his wife Sarah, like so many Irish immigrants before them find a new life in northeastern Pennsylvania. As the dynamiter in the coalmines outside of Scranton, Jim has the respect of family and everyone else in the community. That respect turns to disgust when this father of eight children and four grandsons, unable to cope with tragedy attempts to drown himself and his sorrow in alcohol. Tragedy strikes the O 'Bannon family in many ways. Explosions and mine cave-ins take precious lives and then the worst tragedy that could possibly take place hits the O 'Bannons with a vengeance. The Spanish Flu Pandemic of 1918-19 fueling Dynamite Jim's alcoholism devastates the O 'Bannon family. Sarah the matriarch is faced with decisions that only she can make to hold the family together. Claddagh takes the reader on a roller coaster ride of happiness and sadness, love and family crisis. This exhausting ride will have you laughing one minute and crying the next..
