Demon Alcohol and the Monstermen by Kenneth James Kirsch

Demon Alcohol and the Monstermen is the story of one little girl’s struggles to overcome generations of alcoholism.

Leysa Henko immigrates to America from Russia with her family in 1917, with all the optimism of a four-year-old. Leysa’s world begins to crumble when her abusive alcoholic father, Devak, opens a pub in Tallenook, Pennsylvania, during Prohibition. When her adoring mother Ionna dies of tuberculosis, Leysa and her older sister Maryska are left at the mercy of Devak and his abusive bar cronies—the Monstermen. Devak presses them into service to save his tavern by delivering vodka door-to-door—alone—to Tallenook’s horrific alcoholic “shut-ins.”

The spirits of family members passed on reach out to help Leysa. As Leysa grows older and more bitter, she loses touch and her life spirals out of control.

Will Leysa find the peace she so desperately needs before alcoholism claims another generation of Henkos?

FROM THE AUTHOR:

Leysa Henko’s struggles, and those of the characters in this book, are loosely based on people I’ve met throughout my life in the better – and worse – parts of this state. Demon Alcohol and the Monstermen is the story of just one Pennsylvania family’s struggles, but the scenes in this morality play may well play out in thousands of households in some of the more despair-ridden corners of the state, if not across the United States.

I wanted to turn the tables on alcoholism as a disease and focus on the other victims, the real victims. Groups such as Al-Anon and Alateen do such a tremendous job helping those victimized by alcoholism to live fulfilling lives and find peace that I decided to write a novel that focused on their struggles, on their daily triumphs and tragedies.

I hope this book helps those people who are impacted by this disease find a little peace in their lives.

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