“Like the sage advice given from Irish father to Irish son in Edward J. O’Connell’s On the One Road, this penetrating memoir hits first and hits hard. With a blend of brutal and sometimes comic authenticity, the author adds flesh and bone to a time and place in Boston history where neighborhoods were tribal, loyalty was rewarded and betrayal meant certain death.”
—Casey Sherman, New York Times Bestselling Author of Hunting Whitey and Helltown

In On the One Road—Memoir of A Charlestown Townie, Edward J. O’Connell reflects on his personal journey growing up in a historical one square mile Irish American neighborhood during the tumultuous days of forced busing, bank robbers, the code of silence, and the Irish Republican Army. Ed introduces the reader to family, friends, colorful characters, and dangerous individuals he encountered as he traveled along “The One Road.”

Edward J. O’Connell was born and raised in Charlestown, the oldest neighborhood in the City of Boston, a block away from the Bunker Hill Monument. He now lives with his wife Darlene in a coastal town on Massachusetts’ South Shore. On The One Road—Memoir of A Charlestown Townie is his debut book.