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For Pearse, an Irish-Catholic kid during the 1950s in San Francisco's North Beach, growing up is not an easy task. He serves morning mass at Saints Peter and Paul church, takes Sunday "tours" with his grandfather M.J. to Blum's Cafe for lemon-crunch cake, swims at the local Crystal Plunge..... But when tragedy hits the family, Pearse starts to doubt all he has accepted, including his religious upbringing. Outside the church doors he discovers a new, fascinating life: that of the beatniks, full of spontaneity and abandon. He is drawn especially to the unruly crowd in the Caffe Trieste, where he samples bitter espresso and listens to revolutionary poetry — all against his parents' orders.
About the author
Terence Clarke is the author of eleven books, eight of them fiction. His most recent, a novel titled The Splendid City, was published on March 1, 2019 by Floricanto Press in Los Angeles. It has the great Pablo Neruda as its central character, and has been translated to Spanish by Chilean novelist Jaime Collyer. Clarke is the co-founder and director of publishing at Astor & Lenox, San Francisco. He is a professional member of PENAmerica and has also had a professional relationship with the Squaw Valley Community of Writers for some years.
