Intoxicated by Life

A family's legacy crumbles in the face of addiction in Paul V. O'Leary's emotional new memoir, "Intoxicated by Life."

Jack O'Leary, a first-generation Irish American born to a mother who worked cleaning the houses of the rich, is determined to make it to the top.

A talented and ambitious man, Jack met his match in Mary, a stunning, younger woman who wants nothing more than to escape her working-class origins.

Together, the two begin a life that is quickly marred by tragedy-the loss of three parents and one child in the first four years of their marriage.

The seed of estrangement planted, the couple puts on a brave face-with decades of material success and good times coming their way.

Jack climbs the ladder of the business world and becomes president of a bank. Propelled into the social and financial elite, Jack and Mary embrace their new life of business travel, parties, new cars, country clubs, and Ivy League educations for their children.

But a secret addiction slowly eats away at the O'Leary family-one that will ultimately destroy everything, and everyone, they hold dear.