In this memoir of his childhood, O'Driscoll eloquently examines his troubled relationship with his father, whose bullying and mental abuse have affected him profoundly throughout his life. The task the author has undertaken is to give voice to the voiceless: to express the unnerving pent-up emotions he was unable to express as a child. In A Runner among Falling Leaves, O'Driscoll has written a book that is lyrical, affecting, and at times darkly comical.