Hurray and Hallelujah! There is nothing as satisfying as reading a first novel, and welcoming a new author. Remember when you first read John Irving, Anne Tyler or Richard Russo, and went into their respective worlds. When I first read Russo's "The Risque Pool," I knew that I had a new friend who would take me to places that would be new, enlightening and delightful.

Well, along comes William Kowalski and his first novel, EDDIE'S BASTARD, a rich and original saga. The Harper's book jacket suggests that Kowalski is in the same grand story telling tradition of the before-mentioned John Irving and Wally Lamb. Well, yes, perhaps, but when I was reading EDDIE'S BASTARD, I kept thinking of Charles Dickens, whom Kowalski brought to mind. I suspect that if Dickens was a late 20th Century American writer, he might be a sibling of Kowalski.

William Amos Mann IV was born out of wedlock and left in a wicker basket at his widowed, alcoholic grandmother's farm. His mother, unknown, reveals in a note that Eddie Mann, killed in Vietnam, is the boy's father; thus, EDDIE'S BASTARD.

Gramps, a loving drunk, raises his son's son through alcohol-filtered eyes. We become acquainted as he goes through various stages of boyhood and young manhood. He shares with us his doubts and fears and loves.

I relished every page, and recommend that you become acquainted with William Amos Mann IV, EDDIE'S BASTARD.