O’Malley Family Books In Order

Publication Order of O'Malley's (Family Saga) Books

The O’Malley Family series is a series of family saga and historical fiction novels written by the well known American author, Father Andrew m. Greeley. The novels of the series are set in Chicago, United States and give an account of an eccentric family of Irish-American descent. The plots of the novels of the series revolve around the lives of the members of the O’Malley family, which are set in the post-war era and go all the way up to the 1980s. Due to its exciting stories and character sketches, the series is also known as the Family Saga series. Author Andrew M. Greeley began working on the series in the year 1997 and published its first novel in the same year. The first novel of the series was followed by a few other novels, which were published till 2004. In all, there are seven novels in the series, each of them being published after a gap of one year. The novels of the O’Malley Family series became very successful and helped author Andrew M. Greeley to establish himself as a bestselling author. They also allowed him to add more colors to his already prosperous writing career. The initial novels of the series give the introduction of the members of the O’Malley family and explain the plots that revolve around them.

The first novel of the O’malley Family series written by author Andrew M. Greeley was published by the Forge Books publishing house in the year 1997. It was titled as ‘Summer at the Lake’ and introduced the main characters of the plot of the novel. In the opening sequence of the novel, the central characters named Leo Kelly, Keenan and Jane Devlin are introduced as childhood friends, among a few others. Nicknamed as ‘Packy’, Keenan is the newest member of the group. The group of friends very much liked to spend their summer days beside the lake in Chicago as they considered those times to be pure and full of magic. In fact, the summer days of the year 1948 were the most enchanting ones, which they had never experienced before. However, their happy summer gets ruined due to a tragic car accident, in which a couple of Leo, Keenan and Jane’s friends get killed. The driver of the car was drunk and was the sole reason behind the tragedy. However, he belonged to one of the rich and prosperous Old House families of Chicago, who were determined to do whatever they could in order to protect their son. The culprit’s father was a doctor by profession and had planned a well designed cover-up along with a vicious scandal for protecting his son from going to jail for his crime.

The tragic incident had a great impact on the lives of the three friends, whose summers at the lake in Chicago had been ruined forever. After a while, Leo decides to join the military and is sent to the Korean War. Keenan and Jane Devlin also get busy with other activities. Now, after a period of thirty years, Leo returns back to Chicago in order to solve the mystery of the incident and find out what really had happened on that tragic day of the summer of 1948. Even after so many years, he was still obsessed with the memory of his friends as well the tragic car wreck. He visits the lake frequently and tries to understand the reason behind the car accident. Leo feels relieved after seeing Jane, who has grown into a beautiful lady, but she spends a rather happy life. She has been married to a man, whom she does not love and continuously keeps thinking about Leo. She seems to be haunted by Leo’s memories all these years. Jane also goes near the lake in order to try and join the broken pieces of her life together and start living a peaceful life once again. On the other hand, ‘Packy’ Keenan has been disillusioned by priesthood and realizes that he is also in love with Jane Devlin. However, unlike Jane and Leo, he faces a more difficult time this summer, being a friend and confidant of the two. He seems to be trapped in a dilemma and does not know what choice to make. He begins to question himself whether he should help his old friend Leo win back the love of the woman of his dreams or should try and explore the last chance for owning the love of his life?

The second novel of the O’Malley Family series written by Father Andrew M. Greeley was published as ‘A Midwinter’s Tale’. It was published by the Forge Books publishing house in the year 1998. The plot of this novel revolves around the lives of the main characters Charles ‘Chucky’ Cronin O’Malley and Trudi, and is set in the aftermath of the Second World War. In the opening sequence of the plot of the novel, Chucky gets stationed in Bamberg, Germany during the chaos of World War II. He is a pint-sized man and does not seem to be able to keep himself away from harm. He faces dangers from all sides such as the black marketers and the risks of border patrols. Even his commanding officer seems to be very cruel, which forces Chucky to always land in grave troubles. However, he relies on his quick wit and sometimes on blind luck to save himself from the dangers. Sometimes, Chucky believes that it is the Heavenly interventions that keeps him alive in the chaos of the Second World War. He does not seem to have any hope in his life until the day when he meets a beautiful girl named Trudi. She is 17 years old and is on the run from the U.S. Army and the smugglers. After meeting with Trudi, Chucky begins to see a new hope in his life and tries to save himself and Trudi from the dangers of the chaos of war. Trudi is in such a situation that she desperately needs Chucky’s help even if it means to indulge in a love affair with him. On the other hand, Chucky needs to be extremely careful not to land in any trouble, otherwise both of them might not come out alive from the aftermath of WWII.