‘Brothers McMullen’ star Ed Burns returns to his Long Island roots in new novel

The actor-filmmaker’s “The Marlboro Road Gang,” out Tuesday, is the second book in a trilogy drawn from his Long Island childhood

The book follows a boy on Long Island in the ’80s who realizes his childhood is slipping away as he prepares to enter high school. According to the publisher, the kids find Valley Stream and the neighboring towns more dangerous than they’re prepared for.

“‘The Marlboro Road Gang’ is a novel where darker currents start to invade the innocent pastorale of childhood, and where a boy might lose his bearings in the confusion,” according to Seven Stories Press

Burns, 58, appeared on NBC’s “Today” on Monday to promote the book, where the hosts noted he lived on Marlboro Road and pressed him on whether he was a member of the Marlboro Road Gang.

“I pulled from my life but all the characters are composites of different people I’ve known,” he said.

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The new book picks up from his 2024 debut, which followed a 12-year-old boy and his Irish Catholic family on Long Island in the 1970s.

Born in Woodside, Queens, and raised in Valley Stream, Burns shot his breakout film, “The Brothers McMullen,” mostly in his hometown, and it won the Grand Jury Prize at the 1995 Sundance Film Festival. He has since made 14 feature films as a writer-director-actor and starred in many, including “Saving Private Ryan.”

The street has followed him throughout his career. He and Aaron Lubin have run Marlboro Road Gang Productions as producing partners for two decades.

Burns lives in New York City with his wife and two children.