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To Inspire and Enrich
Growing Up O’Malley is a Historical Fiction novel, based on true stories from your family, of an Irish immigrant couple raising seven boisterous children in Ohio during the early 1900s as they face famine, war, love, heartbreak, and rebirth. Why was this an important book for you to write?
It’s a gentle reminder of life’s simplicity before the onslaught of technological advances. Stories passed down from my parents, and interviews of their remaining siblings (some passed before my journey as an author began) reveal lives searching for purpose and a quest for truth. They highlight the importance of a common sense approach to life’s dilemmas as a universal convergence present throughout history. Reliance on faith, love, and empathy applied to everyday life serve as mainstays toward understanding one another. Life has become divisive and Growing Up O’Malley transports the reader to a time highlighting the application of these principles in our search for individual peace.
Since you based this book on true events from your family history, how did you decide what to include and leave out in your book?
The goal of my writing is to inspire and enrich the reader, hopefully uplifting those facing insurmountable odds. The majority of stories in Growing Up O’Malley are based on facts with a touch of blarney to make them enjoyable. One example is the 1923 birth of my aunt, Veronica O’Malley Collins, clearly before my time. My aunt, Marge O’Malley DuChez, told me two important facts: (1) a bundle was placed on the kitchen table and Marge, the oldest, believed it was a doll until it moved. Her iconic response, “It’s a bay-by” was included exactly as she relayed; and (2) William O’Malley was heartbroken because his father promised him the next baby would be a boy—upset with yet another girl in their abode, he tried to ignore her. With these two facts, I mentally travelled back in time and imagined my own mother’s response at the age of three! I could feel my mother’s smile from heaven as I relived life more than a century past. Although negative incidents are mentioned, I attempted to offset them in two ways: humor or the power of faith to combat problems, many of them universal and inescapable.
What were some goals you set for yourself as a writer in this book?
I had two primary objectives: (1) create a book where the reader felt they were either part of the story or could identify with its characters; and (2) include historical events without making the reader feel they were being schooled (like the series “Beyond the headlines” revealing background facts without sensationalism). I conducted a brief informal history quiz on Gen Z kids and was shocked to discover they were unaware of many important events shaping our history (one example is McCarthyism). If my book has enriched even one person’s life with facts no longer covered in today’s curriculum (and shared those with others), my goal would be achieved.
What is the next book that you are working on, and when can your fans expect it to be out?
I’m actually working on two books: When I Grow Up: A Collection of Short Stories and Never Truly Alone, a psychological thriller. My goal is a release of short story compilations in 2026 and, hopefully, my thriller in 2026 as well.
Author Links: Website | Amazon | Facebook | Instagram | GoodReads | X | LinkedIn
Growing Up O’Malley is a poignant story of an Irish immigrant couple raising seven boisterous children in the early 1900s. Their antics provide the backdrop for a story filled with humor and determination to navigate life’s challenges—the Great Depression, kidnapping, deadly illness, and World War II. Their journey focuses on optimism, Irish wit, and faith to provide inner strength hidden until tested by fate.
GROWING UP O’MALLEY
Growing Up O’Malley by Mary Frances Fisher is a sprawling historical saga rooted in family, Irish heritage, and the immigrant experience in America. Set primarily between Ireland and Cleveland, Ohio, the story traces generations of the O’Malley family as they face famine, war, love, heartbreak, and rebirth. Blending fact with fiction, Fisher brings to life the struggles of Irish immigrants, their fierce pride, and the everyday resilience that shaped not just a family but a community. Anchored by matriarchs like Elizabeth Ginley and spirited descendants like Mary Ginley and Michael O’Malley, the novel is a love letter to enduring spirit and cultural identity.
Fisher’s prose is heartfelt and raw, sometimes poetic, and often tinged with a gentle humor that softens the blows of hardship. I was taken by the way she wrote about poverty, not with pity, but with grit and beauty. The characters are deeply real, layered with flaws and love and history. I cared about them, especially Mary, whose emotional journey from innocent girl to heartbroken woman to strong matriarch stuck with me. Sometimes the dialogue leaned heavily on dialect, but it added charm rather than distraction. I found myself rooting for these folks like they were my own distant cousins.
With over a hundred chapters, a multitude of characters, and detailed events packed into nearly every page, it sometimes felt overwhelming. That said, it’s clear Fisher wrote this with love and reverence—each anecdote, each trial, each joyful reunion rings with authenticity. The blend of fact and fiction is seamless. It’s history with a beating heart. And her sense of humor, especially in the small asides and character quirks, offers a delightful balance to the more sobering passages.
Growing Up O’Malley is a heartfelt and relatable tale that will resonate with anyone who’s ever felt the tug of heritage or family duty. If you enjoy sweeping family sagas, stories about resilience, or have Irish blood in your veins, this one’s for you. It’s not a quick read, but it’s a rich one that is best read slowly. For fans of Angela’s Ashes or Brooklyn, this book will feel like coming home.
Pages: 482 | ASIN : B0CK8YJ1YT
An Inside Track
The Maker’s Name is a suspenseful saga of family betrayal and corporate intrigue that unfolds against the backdrop of Ireland’s economic boom, where two brothers clash over their inheritance. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?
I’ve always taken a strong interest in the way businesses develop, particularly family businesses. I worked for a number of years in the Irish Industrial Development Authority (IDA) where I was able to gain good insight into many such scenarios. The IDA gave me an inside track.
The characters are complex and often morally ambiguous. Can you talk about your process for developing such compelling characters?
I have often clashed with strong personalities in my career, which also took in multinationals like Colgate-Palmolive Company and Shell Oil. There one would come face to face with individuals whose ambition knew no bounds, and against whom one would need strong defences; rising through the ranks in big business is often a zero-sum game. The process of developing such characters for the novel consisted of little more than remembering back to the details of the personalities and behaviour of the people concerned.
The novel features a mix of dark humor and bursts of violence. How did you balance these elements to maintain tension without overshadowing the story’s deeper themes?
I have always been an avid reader. This, I believe, has encouraged me to a deep study of human nature whenever I have found it. I have also taken inspiration from the very best: Ernest Hemingway, Ian McEwan, Graham Greene, Robert Louis Stevenson, Auberon Waugh, Saul Bellow, Philip Roth, Claire Keegan, Anthony Trollope, Tom Wolfe, William Makepeace Thackery, Vladimir Nabokov, and many, many more of history’s superlative novelists. Not forgetting, of course, James Augustine Aloysius Joyce, for the style.
What is the next book that you are working on and when will it be available?
I am working on an outline, and have written about 30,000 words, of a novel that’s inspired by the kind of things that happened in Ireland in the 1980s, the period in which Claire Keegan’s novella, Small Things Like These, is set. According to one commentator, this book sells a thousand books a week, every week. The film version, starring Cillian Murphy, has just been released, to critical acclaim. My book will be ready in the first quarter of 2025.
Author Links: GoodReads | X (Twitter) | Facebook | Website | Amazon
Literary, historical, Irish family saga fiction, for grownups
Lucid, engaging prose covering half a century of a provincial Irish business family, which could be microcosmic of the nation, from a first-time author.
The Considine brothers, Rudi and Gus, are at war.
Their father, Malachi, has died in a ‘freak accident’. But is there such a thing as a freak accident? When Rudi attempts to grab Gus’s inheritance there’s a real prospect of human blood appearing on the Hawthorne Meats slaughterhouse floor. Enter Cosgrave, a solicitor with expensive tastes, and Toomarood, the banker with an eye to making money outside of his day job. Mix in the ‘free’ energy device, after experts have stated that the promoters are suffering from long-term, severe self-delusion. Does this all make up a catastrophe waiting to happen?
How will Gus’s childhood friend, Raymond Quinn, his partner, Kaarina, and their children, be able to deal with him being placed under an exit ban in China because of his part in a pyramid scheme that has defrauded Chinese small investors? Is Gus really the nice guy everyone thinks he is? His activities as a ‘celebrity butcher’ might suggest otherwise. Does Rudi go too far by defrauding Quinn senior and his business partner through the use of a shadow company?
Is Rudi capable of murder?
And Rudi’s wife, Penny – whose side is she on?
Treachery hangs over this story of the pressures and tensions, both personal and commercial, of Celtic-Tiger era Ireland, especially when that edifice is destroyed in the Global Financial Crisis of 2008.
For Rudi, the payback from Gus and Raymond is severe indeed.
An Elegant Symmetry
Quantum Mind follows a brother and sister who encounter a being on a mission to Earth from over 5,000 years ago who is trying to reconnect Earth to other sentient planets. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?
I’m fascinated by anything involving science, especially quantum physics, and also ancient Irish folklore and myth. I learned about the Warrior Queen Boudicca, and I thought she was an extremely interesting character to use in this story. I also couldn’t tell this story without including some of the incredible stone monuments, like Newgrange or Stonehenge, which exist in Ireland and England. It still amazes me these various stone monuments were built almost 5000 years ago.
The science inserted in the fiction, I felt, was well-balanced. How did you manage to keep it grounded while still providing the fantastic edge science fiction stories usually provide?
I really enjoyed this part of writing Quantum Mind. The Quantum science behind this is incredibly complicated, but I really wanted the reader to be able to follow the story and not get lost in the math or complexity of the science. All the fantastic properties and abilities of quantum science are really amazing and were a tremendous amount of fun to include in this story.
What were some of the trials that you felt were important to highlight the characters’ development?
In quantum physics there is an elegant symmetry found throughout many of the different aspects of the quantum particle relationships. I wanted to bring this symmetry to many of the characters’ relationships by being twins, which can share many similar traits but can also be exact opposites. Quantum particles also have an important characteristic of the direction the particle is spinning. Being left handed, I thought it would be a great way to incorporate having different things happen when you hold a quantum stone in your left hand versus your right hand. A simple ‘shout out’ to all the lefties out there!
Where does the next book in the series take the characters?
The next book, called Quantum Entanglement, will take place on Ghia in a race to save the Quantum Guild from the destruction and enslavement by the alien Egrans. While the others are fighting the Egrans, Brian’s 10 year old son, Malcolm, discovers he controls a quantum ability to create unlimited copies of himself. Being in two places at the same time might be the key Ghia has been searching for to restore the Quantum Guild. Is Malcolm’s new ability enough to fight off the Egrans and restore the Quantum Guild? Is this the only power Malcolm has, or did he unlock an ability that could potentially destroy the whole universe?
Author Links: GoodReads | Twitter | Facebook | Website | Amazon
A Ballad of Love and Glory
![A Ballad of Love and Glory: A Novel by [Reyna Grande]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51OyT1BDuTL.jpg)
Reyna Grande’s novel A Ballad of Love and Glory is a historical fiction novel that will remind the reader not only of the romantic atmosphere between the main characters but the tension of living on the boarder between Mexico and the United States. Ximena is the main character who lives with her husband Joaquín, who dreams of starting a family in a post-war context. The author treats with great care the bond between the couple and how affection developed between them. And she does the same to narrate the tragic death of Joaquín during an attack. After his death Ximena joins the war effort as a nurse where she meets John Riley. The two form a bond over shared sorrows.
The narrative takes place in two worlds, the ability to experience the context of Ximena in Mexico and at the same time of the Irish soldier John Riley. The suffering of the two characters is described clearly and strongly, as they both experience significant dramas until one day they meet in Mexico. The torrid romance between the two becomes more and more intriguing for readers, after all, what seems improbable is exciting, thus keeping the reader increasingly entertained and engaged in the story. The story will incite a variety of emotions with the impending war and the bloody scenario that comes from it, and at the same time the narrative being unfolded for the forbidden couple, who become prisoners of their feelings.
A Ballad of Love and Glory takes readers back in time to a place where war and survival are all the inhabitants know. Finding love in this chaotic environment seams impossible but readers will find hope and see that through all the sufferings, there is a chance for happiness. Romance and historical fiction lovers alike will find something to cling to in this impassioned romance novel.
Pages: 352 | ASIN: B0984M86DV
LITERARY TITAN 