From a difficult childhood on Alice Street in Guelph, Ontario to even harder years as a student at McGill University, Richard Valeriote tells the story of growing up as an impoverished immigrant in early twentieth-century Canada. A witness and participant in the social and cultural changes of the last century, his memories offer a personal perspective on the Great Depression, the Second World War, and the racism and ethnic tensions of small town Ontario.

Alice Street recounts how Valeriote was born at the sunset of good times and the dawn of hard ones. His mother's fifteenth child, he grew up in an Italian Catholic family on a street full of proud families with a multitude of languages and backgrounds. From being packed into the local church, to working and borrowing his way through medical school at McGill while surviving several severe illnesses, to his very successful career as a doctor in California, his story is entwined with those of everyone from foundry workers to foreign ambassadors. A warm and informative look at the challenging journey made by so many, Alice Street is a testament to the strength and character needed to make it through tumultuous times.