e novel opens at Christmas time but there is little of Christmas cheer to be found in the Walsh household. Even though Joe is not drinking for the first time in years on Christmas, a fact that takes the other family members by surprise, Adel still manages to engage in conflict with him. She goes to bed on Christmas eve before Midnight Mass and ôon Christmas morning got into a fight with her father and refused to open any of her presentsö, instead she sits ôon the stairs in her housecoat complaining about bad nerves and upsetting feelingsö (Richards 1997, 7).
In the Walsh household, despite RitaÆs willingness to believe the best in everyone and JoeÆs cheerful if drunken nature, AdeleÆs head-strong determination to be independent conflicts with her love for her father. She is quick to think the worst of her father, and she informs us that even though her father is not drinking he will ôprobably ruin [Christmas] in some other way, or in some other fashionö (Richards 1997, 7). Milly also acts as a target of
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