Beyond the Chokecherry Tree

The book consists of a series of memoir pieces about my early life from childhood through school, college and law school and marriage. The book contains sketches of my two grandmothers, one Irish, one Yankee, my parents, including my father's traumas following WWII, my two younger brothers, and vignettes about how I navigated through the narrow world into which I was born and ultimately escaped.

The book consists of a series of memoir pieces about my early life from childhood through school, college and law school and marriage. The book contains sketches of my two grandmothers, one Irish, one Yankee, my parents, including my father's traumas follow WWII, my two younger brothers, and vignettes about how I navigated through the narrow world into which I was born and ultimately escaped. The book deals with my Irish Catholic upbringing and how it crashed against my decision to marry a Jew. It vividly describes the circumscribed life I inherited and how I ultimately found a way out.

John Delehanty is a former corporate litigator in New York who now practices as a mediator and arbitrator. He has written memoir pieces for many years, principally at the Hudson Valley Writers Center in Sleepy Hollow, NY. He has vivid memories of his early life and loves to bring them to life in the pages of his new book.