Ryan's Hope : An Oral History of Daytime's Groundbreaking Soap Hardback

From the opening scene of its first episode, in which Mary Ryan walks jauntily down a New York City street to her family's neighbourhood bar, it was clear that Ryan's Hope would be unlike every daytime soap that had come before.

Indeed, from 1975 to 1989, the Emmy award-winning ABC TV serial drew viewers into the world of Maeve and Johnny Ryan, their children, friends, and extended family.

This page-turning chronicle gathers memories and exclusive interviews to reveal the show's fascinating origin story - and explore why it's missed to this day.

Ryan's Hope was the first soap to be set in a real city, within recognizable communities.

The working-class, Irish-Catholic, immigrant Ryans were the core of a show that credibly tackled such topics as infidelity, addiction, religious faith, and women's rights.

There was melodrama, to be sure, but also heart, depth, grit - provided by co-creators and head writers Claire Labine and Paul Avila Mayer.

Labine and Mayer were also the executive prod