Bite the Hand

Tommy is a quiet, passive kid but poverty forces him to change: he must become tough. At the age of four, he climbs excitedly into a patrol car as he and his four older brothers head for jail. Their crime: being evicted. After time in the “joint”, they are sent to an orphanage where they spend four long years before being reunited with their mother and baby sister. The fatherless family struggles to survive on welfare, moving constantly. Home is wherever they stay for a year, maybe two. The novel follows Tommy through the orphanage, the north woods, the city slums, and finally into the military. The novel is told in Tommy’s own words. As he grows older, the language becomes more sophisticated, his knowledge expands, and his attitudes change. But can Tommy maintain his integrity in these threatening environments?