Like so many Irish girls, 18 year old Angeline Kearns saw her handsome GI as a rescuer from the grey skies of Ireland to the Hollywood-tinted USA. She flew happily away to the States in 1957 - a bit scared, but blessing her luck. But she quickly learned that America was not Ireland. The cheerful family life she had known in Dublin's Irishtown was a world away from her husband's sober Maine Protestant upbringing. Adapting to Cold War America, appearing to be the perfect wife, the happy shopper, the all-giving mom, became an endurance test. Then a childhood trauma came back to haunt her...

Over two million Irish women have gone to the US in search of liberty and happiness. In this sharply observed memoir Angeline Kearns Blain movingly evokes the culture shock, trauma and re-invention experienced by every immigrant.

'With earthy candour, Angeline Kearns Blain fearlessly explores the challenges of a new land. Her journey in search of the mythical American dream is told with humour and honesty, as she discovers both America and herself.'  Dr Lisa McClain, Associate Professor of History and Director of Gender Studies, Boise State University.