New Bedford Guide Your Guide to New Bedford and South Coast, MA
Spinner Publications author Catherine McLaughlin will be reading excerpts from her new book, Blue Collars at a number of local libraries and book sellers during the months of September and October.
Come meet New Bedford native Catherine McLaughlin—a published poet and accomplished painter. During the events the author will take questions from the audience and will sign and personalize books.
Scheduled book-signings are free to the public and will take place:
• Thursday, September 13, 6–8pm
Provincetown Library, 356 Commercial St, Provincetown, MA
• Official introduction of the paperback edition!
Saturday, September 15, 12–6pm. At Spinner Publications office, 164 William St, New Bedford, MA during William Street Neighborhood Festival
• Wednesday, September 26, 6–8pm
Acushnet Public Library, 232 Middle Road, Acushnet, MA
• Wednesday, October 3, 6:30–8pm
Fall River Public Library, 104 N Main St, Fall River, MA
•Saturday, October 6, 2–4pm
Partners Village Store, 865 Main Rd, Westport, MA
• Tuesday, October 9, 6:30–8pm
Jonathan Bourne Library, 19 Sandwich Rd, Bourne, MA
About the book
Blue Collars, a compelling story about growing up during the late 1950s and 1960s in a New Bedford working-class family, details the triumphs and tragedies of the close-knit Kilroy family. Told by young Fiona “Finn” Kilroy, her story unfolds in the city’s South End, a neighborhood where Portuguese, Irish, French, and Cape Verdean immigrant families live side-by-side in mostly three-decker tenement houses. Finn’s father works long hours as a loomfixer at the Berkshire Hathaway textile mill on the city’s waterfront, while her mother struggles to keep the children healthy, well-fed and well-dressed.
Surrounded by the love of a caring, extended family, Finn’s life seems from the outside to be carefree and idyllic. But a terrible secret haunts her childhood. This is the story of a young girl’s endurance in the face of betrayal. It bravely exposes the oft-hidden anguish of child sexual abuse. The book touches on the deep devastation of a young girl who is molested by a trusted family member and her struggle to deal with this trauma.
About the author
Catherine McLaughlin grew up in New Bedford and now lives in nearby Padanaram. She received her undergraduate degree from UMass Dartmouth, and her graduate degrees from the University College Dublin and Bowling Green State University. McLaughlin has taught English and writing for 40 years and is a professor emerita of Framingham State University.
Spinner Publications, is a non-profit publishing house in New Bedford whose mission is to record and promote the history, stories and culture of the cities and towns of southeastern New England. For more information contact Spinner Publications, 508-994-4564. Email sgrace@spinnerpub.com www.spinnerpub.com or visit Spinner’s Facebook page.
