Introduction to VOICE OF OUR SHADOW

I grew up in a town about an hour from New York City. It was in the Hudson Valley right on the river. When we lived there most of the residents were either Irish or Italian, descendants of the workers who had built the New York Central railroad and eventually settled in the area. I gather the town is very chic now because of its proximity to Manhattan and houses that once sold for barely five figures are now almost seven. But my memories are of a gritty, mostly lower middle class burg where...