Gerald Hansen

An Embarrassment of Riches Gerald Hansen

When Ursula Barnett and her husband Jed win the Irish lottery, they think their troubles are over. But they are just beginning. Ursula coerces her Yank husband to retire in her hometown of Derry, Northern Ireland, hoping to atone for her youthful sins as a collaborator with the IRA in the 1970s. At the first sniff of Ursula s lotto win, however, her chronically greedy sister-in-law Fionnuala Flood rallies the family against Ursula. Fionnuala s life is a misery. She is married to a boozing fish-packing plant worker and raising seven seedy hooligans, from a convict son to an eight-year-old devil-daughter who will resort to desperate measures to secure the perfect Holy Communion gown. Between two part-time jobs, Fionnuala still finds the energy to put into motion plans which pit husbands against wives, daughters against mothers, the lawless against the law and Fionnuala against anyone fool enough to cross her path. Family saga and black comedy, love story and courtroom drama, An Embarrassment of Riches will take you on a journey to Northern Ireland and beyond, where Protestants and Catholics wage battle daily, and where crossing family with finance leads to passion and tragedy, heartache and hilarity.

From Publisher's Weekly
"The Irish family at the heart of this hilarious novel is so tawdry and despicable, it's a wonder they don't kill off each other in the first few pages. Ursula's new (and fading) riches have strained many of her personal relationships, particularly with her sister-in-law, Fionnuala, a first-rate villain who concocts get-rich-quick schemes based on the misery of others, while her children find themselves in messes all their own. The Irish dialect and sprawling cast make the first few chapters difficult to read, but once the vulgarity and shenanigans set in, the novel is as absorbing as it is hysterical."

"A F*cking Masterpiece!"
--Colin Quinn, Comedian, SNL, Tough Crowd
"Wildly amusing...a cross between a roller-coaster and a carousel!"
--Olivera Baumgartner-Jackson. Readerviews.com
"Clearly the work of a craftsman! (The characters) careen around Derry with the grace of a drunken and horny bull!"
--Chris Gerrib, Podpeople.com
"Hansen does a wonderful job with this dark comedy...an excellent novel for anyone to read again and again!"
--Ashley Merrill, Front Street Reviews