The success of Patrick Desmond
by Egan, Maurice Francis, 1852-1924
this is the story of eleanor, the daughter of judge redwood, the most eminent person in the little american town where they live, and the young catholic worker patrick desmond. they have never seen each other, but there is something in both their families that connect them from way back, so when they are paired to lead the minuet at a church charity festival, things start movingHis novels were romantic and melodramatic, mixing some realism with the romantic conventions of 19th century literature. They depicted lives of contemporary urban Catholics in the United States, showing Irish Catholics learning how to practise their religion in the United States. His novels promoted genteel middle-class values. Egan was perhaps the first Irish American author to exchange the Irish part of their background for a genteel Catholic middle class identity. This was a common trade-off among his generation of Irish Americans.
