Me and Five Guys is a rough-and-tumble story, where love is messy, and the characters frequently work things out by wrestling or punching or smashing something to pieces. But ultimately, each family member knows that they are a part of this organic unit, for better or worse, and each embraces it in his or her own way.

“Everyone’s life touches someone else’s and changes it forever. I knew it was only a matter of time before I, too, would be part of the earth. I’d always thought cemeteries were creepy. That day, I found them comforting, beautiful, meaningful. I took all the energy of those fabulous souls and I let it rise through my shoes. The energy which lived in the soil traveled up the veins of my legs, pumping a new warrior energy into my being.”

Me and Five Guys, a vivid, deeply personal novel by award-winning screenwriter Trish Doolan. Me and Five Guys is a unique coming-of-age story set in Queens, New York, in the 1960s, '70s and '80s. Emotionally raw and confessional in the tradition of memorable novels such as The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold, Bastard Out of Carolina by Dorothy Allison, and I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou, Me and Five Guys also has its own brand of one-of-a-kind humor. Like Jim Sheridan’s acclaimed movie, In America, Me and Five Guys tells the story of a first-generation immigrant family’s life in New York, relating both the good and the bad events with bold, straightforward charm.

The listeners first meets Frankie, the winsome narrator, in the birth canal on the day JFK is shot. Her Irish father is in the bar, drinking away his sorrow at the president’s murder. Her Italian mother, who is delighted to finally have a daughter, chooses an Italian name for her, Francesca. But Francesca’s four rowdy older brothers soon adopt the nickname Frankie, as they look out for her in their own boyish way—even though sometimes their brand of childcare results in her getting a couple of teeth knocked out or a split lip.

We follow Frankie and her four older brothers as they deal with their father’s repeated drunken bouts of temper and many other tragedies that fate sends their way. But no matter what happens to them, they stick together through thick and thin. They play and laugh together; they fight together; they betray, wound, and mistreat one another; they miscommunicate or don’t communicate at all. It’s a testament to Trish’s talent that she is able to be so articulate about characters who are often unable to articulate their true feelings to each other. Frankie’s father tells his wife’s pillow how much he loves her but is unable to say it to the woman herself. Frankie’s brother never really talks about his sexuality. And Frankie herself hides a dark secret from her family for years.

This is a rough-and-tumble story, where love is messy, and the characters frequently work things out by wrestling or punching or smashing something to pieces. But ultimately, each family member knows that they are a part of this organic unit, for better or worse, and each embraces it in his or her own way. Love triumphs and healing takes place in a well-earned, truly happy ending. The listener will cheer Frankie on, every step of the way.