"Mr. Horgan manages . . . to make the morning of life as pristine as the dawn of creation itself."--"New York Times" "A work of rare beauty . . . has a lyrical quality that is rare today."--"Best Sellers" "Mr. Horgan writes as a poet and as the biographer of us all." --"Book Week"Richard is a young boy growing up in turn-of-the-century upstate New York, sheltered in a loving Catholic family. His happy world consists largely of illusions. These are shattered as Richard learns about "things as they are"--a remorseless succession of encounters with the casual brutality of schoolboys, the faithlessness of adults, the silence of God, and the cruelty in his own heart. Yet Paul Horgan finds courage and beauty in the ruins of Richard's dream world. Hope is also part of "things as they are," and Horgan's subtle, powerful vision makes this classic tale of lost innocence a novel that resonates deeply in the soul.