The Green Years

Originally published in 1945 The Green Years is one of A J Cronin's best-loved novels. It tells the story of Robert Shannon a young Irish Catholic boy who orphaned at the age of seven is brought to live with his mother's estranged family in Scotland. As he grows up in a dour Presbyterian town only his great-grandfather an incorrigible swaggering charming larger-than-life character seems able to rescue him from the narrow interests of the people who try to shape his life in their own image.<br><br>Disappointed in love and in his burning ambition to study medicine the eighteen-year-old Robert sees his future as a blank wall. But once again he is saved from despair by his fiery relative much to the chagrin of the rest of the family.<br><br>This compassionate story of a boy's growth to manhood set against the harsh reality of life at the turn of the century shows A J Cronin at his masterly best creating a vivid gallery of characters with his customary blend of imagination insight and tenderness.<br><br>In the magnificent narrative tradition of <i>The Citadel</i> <i>The Stars Look Down</i> and Cronin's other classic novels <i>The Green Years</i> is a great book by a much-loved author