Past-Forward: A three-decade and three-thousand-mile journey home, a non-fiction account of author Maureen K. Wlodarczyk’s thirty-year search for her grandmother’s Irish ancestral roots, published by Outskirts Press, can be purchased on Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com. The book, written in the form of a letter to Maureen’s grandmother Kate, tells both the story of the thirty-year search itself along with the discovered tale of Kate’s Irish ancestors from the late eighteenth century in the West of Ireland, to their emigration to America in the mid-nineteenth century fleeing the devastating potato famine and through the next eight decades in Jersey City, New Jersey as successive generations struggled to make their way despite hardship and tragedy. The Genealogical Society of New Jersey reviewed “Past-Forward” saying the book is “an excellent example of taking genealogy far beyond just names and dates….valuable to anyone who has an interest in the journey of seeking their ancestors.”
Young & Wicked: The Death of a Wayward Girl, Maureen Wlodarczyk’s second book is the true story of first generation Irish-Americans William Flannelly and his girl Polly Sexton. Born into poverty and growing up on the gritty streets of Lower Manhattan and Jersey City in the 1870s, this lesser Bonnie & Clyde took the wrong path early on, as child criminals. They continued down the slippery slope of petty criminality and anti-social behavior first as individuals and then as a star-crossed couple. They fled their homes and families to escape arrest and with the intention of disappearing into the shadows and fast times of the 1890s Bowery neighborhood in Manhattan. In the end, they not only disappeared, they lost themselves, one in body and the other in soul. A Star-Ledger book review described Young & Wicked as ”a sad and interesting tale.”
Coming January 2012 – Canary in a Cage - The third book in Maureen’s trilogy of true family stories of the 19th century being offered by subscription series delivered as an ebook. Canary in a Cage is the story of a twenty-something Jersey girl named Jenny, born a farmer’s daughter in Monmouth County, who literally woke up and found herself in a heap of trouble in 1878, accused of murdering her police officer husband in Jersey City. Accused, arrested, and fighting to avoid conviction and death by hanging. Did she or didn’t she do it? Join me as I unravel the true story of a farmer’s daughter turned Jersey City girl and, perhaps, murderess. Subscribers will receive new chapters each month via email along with background on the investigative and genealogical research process. Subscribers will be able to post comments and questions on the Reader Forum page of the book website including theories of the crime as it unfolds. The series will kick-off in mid-January. The post-holidays winter doldrums are coming – a great time to put on your slippers and play history detective or just get lost in another time and a sensational crime. Subscribe now: www.canaryinacage.com – only $4.99 for the full series.
Give the gift of reading and entertainment for Christmas – Gift subscriptions can be arranged by contacting msantiquer@optonline.net
