What the Tide Brings After the Storm
by Kelly Coughlin

What the Tide Brings After the Storm is a sweeping family odyssey that begins in the famine-stricken hills of Ireland, winds through the coal mines of Pennsylvania, and settles in the salt air of Galveston, Texas. At its core is a single night in June 1941 when a car plunges off a bridge, leaving one young man alive and three others lost.

The story follows Pat and Barney Coughlin—two brothers bound by love, guilt, faith, and resilience—as they chart diverging paths shaped by tragedy. Pat enlists in the Army Air Corps, finding purpose in the complex machinery of the B-29 and in the family he builds in Kansas. Barney, deeply marked by grief and called to serve others, joins the Jesuits and rises to leadership in higher education.

Through generations, the Coughlins endure famine, loss, migration, war, and the constant search for meaning in suffering. Yet, alongside hardship, they discover the enduring strength of faith, family, and the possibility that even in the darkest waters, life can carry us toward the light.

This is a story about survival, redemption, and the invisible ties that bind families across time and tragedy. It asks: is life simply a ledger of winners and losers—or, with enough time, do we all win in the end?