Take the Long Way Home introduces Jim O'Brien, the youngest of nine in an Irish Catholic family from St Mary's parish on Chicago's South Side. The story examines his loving yet complex relationship with his father, Dan O'Brien, a Korean war hero and legendary High School football coach. The novel covers an eventful year in the late 2000's interwoven with hilarious and revealing flashbacks from Jim's South Side coming -of- age in 1970s and 80s Chicago. Family, faith and football are the backdrop for a father son story that will both make you double over in laughter and ache with nostalgic longing for just one more conversation with your own father.