Aurelio O'Brien

Family Trees Aurelio O'Brien

In the tradition of tales like, "It's A Wonderful Life," "Miracle on 34th Street," and, "A Christmas Story," Aurelio O'Brien's, "Family Trees," seems destined to become another perennial favorite. The place is mid-1960s American suburbia. The time is the after the end-of-year holidays. The Benjamin family of eight provides their block's social hub, until that hub is disrupted by the loss of their mother, Ellen Benjamin. Six now motherless kids between the ages of 6 to 17 are left on their own. Challenging this adversity, many hijinks and much out-of-the-box thinking goes into continuing without her-to the great frustration of their semi-absent father, Ed Benjamin, neighbors, and school officials. Dovetailed by Christmases, "Family Trees" explores this peculiar family, what they learn from each other and their parents, present and past, to discover the true definition of family. Loosely based on the single-parent period of the author's life, names were changed to protect the guilty, and although many of the incidences and events are heavily based in reality-he chose to create legend rather than print the facts. Christmas will never be the same for the Benjamins and Christmas may never be the same for you after you read their story.