Small Mercies – Dennis Lehane

Using the forced integration of the South Boston High School in 1974 as the ominous backdrop, he details the tragic final summer of Mary Pat Fennessy, a self-described Southie broad and single mother, twice married who has just lost her high school-aged daughter. She seeks revenge on those responsible for the earlier death of her son, and now her daughter who was caught up in an incendiary racist event. The novel is filled with loathsome and loveable characters who struggle to maintain their way of life and dignity in most unusual ways.