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The Book of Kehls Paperback release: St Patrick's Day, March 17, 2006 “When Bridget Moore left Galway Bay, Ireland, in 1865, she never suspected that along with her trunk, her rosary beads, and her clay pipe, she was also bringing Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, a sex-linked (male) hereditary disease to New York City. Bridget bore four daughters, one right after the other, and then, a healthy son. Five of Bridget’s six grandsons were not as lucky. They died, in childhood, of DMD - as did O’Hagan’s twenty-two year old brother, and her twenty-four year old son. (Two nephews, ages twenty-nine and twenty-eight, still struggle.) THE BOOK OF KEHLS is a haunting, lyrical, humorous tale of an ordinary family caught in extraordinary circumstances.” *** One of the "Best Books of 2005"---Kirkus “While Christine Kehl O’Hagan beautifully and candidly renders detailed stories of loss and sorrow from a five-generation family history of Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, it’s the family’s perseverance and hope, their ability to love and laugh and sustain one another that most touched my heart.” ---Jerry Lewis, MDA National Chairman “Emotions come off the page like radio-active waves. Rarely is a memoir so worth the terrible effort...” ---Kirkus (starred review) “O’Hagan brings us unflinchingly into her world, showing us both the love and the heartbreak, without a shred of sentimentality.” ---Newsday “A daring and thought-provoking memoir...” ---Minnesota Star Tribune “What shines through is O’Hagan’s clear-eyed honesty, mordant humor, and, most of all, love of God and family that provided her emotional strength..” ---Entertainment Weekly “The author reflects on her family’s struggles, and the patience, humor and willpower that enabled them to cope..” ---Daily News “While a painful memoir, the book is full of humility, honesty, and even humor.” --- The Improper
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Benediction at the Savoia
“Jackson Heights, Queens, is a predominantly Irish-Catholic neighborhood just a few subway stops away from the teeming metropolis of Manhattan. This is the home of Delia Delaney, a 32-year-old mother of two, who, in 1963, is expecting her third child. Anxious and uncomfortable during a sweltering summer, Delia enters the tenth month of pregnancy trying her best not to dwell on what her baby’s lateness might portend.” (Book jacket copy) *** “The story of Delia Mary Delaney, nee Rooney, set in the early ‘60's and before - pops and hums with a multitude of depth-sounding recognitions so acute in sound and sight that the reader is at home in the Heights after a few pages. From the fly-specked windows of the Shamrock Bar, in the “damp air under the el,” to the cemetery opposite Arthur’s Discounts - it’s real, and warms the heart.” ---Kirkus - starred review “A sensitively written story with fully fleshed-out characters who will be recognizable to most readers. It’s a small, simple and heartfelt tale that finds itself in the smallest movements and gestures.” ---The Milwaukee Journal “O’Hagan’s sensitive voice celebrates her characters’ triumphs and tragedies in a benediction of her own..” ---San Francisco Chronicle “An accomplished and affecting first novel” ---Newsday “O’Hagan’s story has staying power. There are some wonderful descriptions of people and places, and more importantly, O’Hagan understands the dynamics of love and pain...” ---Detroit Free Press “O’Hagan’s evocative descriptions of the neighborhood and the dynamics of its tradition-bound families brings to mind “A Tree Grows in Brooklyn.” ---The Orlando Sentinel
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