Mother Superior

Do you want to know what it is really like to be a Mother Superior?  Read the article in Aleteia.

Three Converging Paths

Stony River by Tricia Dower is a worthwhile read.  It is promoted as a book for young adults, but I

enjoyed it so much that I’m promoting it as a “coming of age” story for everyone.

 This is a story about three girls in a small town, during the 1950’s.  One of the girls is dramatically different.  She was raised by an emotionally ill father, who fathers her child.  When her father dies, protective services places her in an orphanage.  Fortunately, a young mother watches over her eventually adopts her and mentors her fragile emotions.

The removal of this young teenager and her infant son from her crazy home was witnessed by the other two girls.  They happened to be just playing around the house.  But now, each one of their lives takes off in different directions. 

Tereza comes from a dysfunctional family.  Her father beats her and her mother is too insecure to help her.  She runs away and finds herself married by fifteen and widowed—left with a baby and a dependent mother-in-law.  I don’t know why, but Tereza is my favorite character.  I was always rooting for her, but she lives a hard life and there’s no sun on the horizon.  She wanted to be an actress but can’t read; she has dyslexia.  I hope, Tricia Dower continues Tereza’s story in another book.

Linda is the good girl.  Her family is loving, maybe a little too controlling, but loving parents cover a lot of sins. Unfortunately, the parents have difficulties and Linda tempts fate.  She starts flirting with the wild boys and accepting rides from strange men.  She’s lucky because girls start getting raped and murdered. 

Miranda is the young girl who was placed in the orphanage.  It turns out she’s an empath.  An empath is someone who feels the energy from people and objects. Perhaps her strange childhood with her father’s Irish paganism, mixed with the orphanage’s religious sisters’ mystical spirituality nurtured her empathetic gifts.  Miranda was adopted by Doris-the young mother. And Doris is her bulwark—her mother, sister, and best friend.  Miranda eventually uses her empathetic gifts to solve the murders.

These are the three protagonists.  I hope their stories continue in a series.  I liked them that much.  Stony River, like most good novels, is primarily about the characters.  Tricia Dower makes the reader care about all three girls, and the innocent baby, Cian.  That’s why I want more.

The setting is a close-knit community in the 1950’s.  Everyone thinks they know everyone and everyone’s business or think they do.  That’s why rape and murder shook their world in such a horrific manner.  Tricia Dower knows how to convey emotionally charged situations.  If you don’t feel Miranda’s panic when her baby was taken, then you’re not human.  Also, the fear and tension when Linda accepts a ride from a stranger is palpable.  Tricia Dower is an excellent writer.

Stony River is an intense story.  The characters are believable and interesting.  I recommend the book highly.  Although I was given the book to review, I was not required to write a favorable review.  This review is my own honest assessment. 

Author’s Biography

Tricia Dower confesses to smoking a river punk or two in Rahway, New Jersey, where she was born and raised by perfectly fine parents who did not keep her hidden in a spooky house. You can find her on the “Rahway’s Own” website with other individuals the town has recognized for innovation and creativity. A graduate of Gettysburg College and a Phi Mu, she built a career in business before reinventing herself as a writer in 2002. Her literary work has crossed borders and won awards. She expanded a story from her Shakespeare-inspired collection, Silent Girl (Inanna 2008) into Stony River, which was first published in Canada (Penguin, 2012). Her novel, Becoming Lin (Caitlin Press), was released in Canada in 2016. A dual citizen of Canada and the United States, Dower lives and writes in Brentwood Bay, BC.

Tricia Dower's Web Site: 
http://triciadower.com/

Tricia Dower's Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/tricia.dower

Tricia Dower's Twitter:
https://twitter.com/TriciaDower

Tricia Dower's Goodreads:
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1302018.Tricia_Dower

Tricia Dower's Blog:
http://triciadower.com/silent-girl-speaks/

Stony River Goodreads:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13616825-stony-river

Tribute Books Blog Tours Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Tribute-Books-Blog-Tours/242431245775186

Stony River blog tour site:
http://stonyriverblogtour.blogspot.com

Prices/Formats: $10.99 ebook, $15.95 paperback
Genre: Crime, Historical, Coming of Age
Pages: 320
Release: September 13, 2016
Publisher: Leapfrog Press
ISBN: 9781935248866

Amazon buy link:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1935248863?&tag=tributebooks-20

Barnes and Noble buy link:
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/stony-river-tricia-dower/1123485056;jsessionid=04D1856B3A4CE64B6A66D3E483B84E76.prodny_store02-atgap01?ean=9781935248866

iTunes:
https://geo.itunes.apple.com/us/book/stony-river/id1135492622?mt=11&at=10lu5f

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Knowing Who We Are; Knowing What We Are Supposed to Do

Knowing Who We Are; Knowing What We Are Supposed to Do: This fall I am giving presentations to all of the high school teachers, staff and administrators in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. These talks take place on an annual basis, and this year the theme is morality.



Lucky Bishop Barron!  Read the article to see what he says.

https://www.ncronline.org/blogs/ncr-today/sacramento-parishioners-minister-prisoners-their-loved-ones

https://www.ncronline.org/blogs/ncr-today/sacramento-parishioners-minister-prisoners-their-loved-onesThis article from National Catholic Reporter by Dan-Morris Young has reference links in every paragraph.  You can read personal testimonies of how volunteers are personally rewarded by helping prisoners.

From the Mouths of Babes

There was a time I worried about my young  daughter’s development.  Language skill was a particular worry.  Is she stringing together two or three words to make sentences, or is she still only using one word and pointing?

 I know I tended to worry too much.

She could say, “Mama,” “Dadda,” and “Wawil” (That was Cheryl, her big sister.)  She could point to and say “dog.”  Other one syllable words were used frequently: “Milk,” “nap,” “car,” etc.  But they weren’t sentences.

There were two words used now and then: “Me go.”  “Me come.”  “Good bye.”  “Mama come.”

Well, I thought,  speech will come and I told myself not to worry so much.  Life went on.  It was spring and an opportunity to go outside and play and also increase our vocabulary. 

Every day, however, getting outside became a problem.  The back door leading to the back yard would sometimes swell and become stuck.  It was a struggle to get the door opened.  I’d yank and pull and rattle, until the door finally creaked open.  One time during this tough struggle, the door gave up sooner than expected and flew open right smack in the baby’s face.  She had an obvious egg on her forehead.

Well she certainly didn’t have the vocabulary to tell me exactly how badly she was hurt.  She just screamed bloody murder.  I thought she might have a concussion, so I took her to the pediatrician’s.

But at the doctor’s my one syllabic daughter had no trouble relating what had happened to her.  Dr. Robb asked, “Where did you get that boo boo?” 

Sadly, she very distinctly said, “from the damn door.”

Ooops!

I wonder where she learned that.

Archaic Punishment

Photo Credit UN Photo/Rick Bajornas

Sentencing someone to death has no place in today's world.  Did you read the United Nation's Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's statement?  He states that it is of no value.  It certainly does not deter anyone from committing crimes. He specifically is talking about terrorism. Terrorists want to be martyrs for their cause so they look forward to a death penalty.

States in the United States that have death penalties still have people killing others.  Death penalties don't work and in today's society where we have other means of deterrents, it's not necessary.

Tarred and Feathered -- The 1854 Letter of Father Bapst

Pilot, October 7,2016

Tarred and feathered -- the 1854 letter of Father Bapst: In the papers of Bishop John Bernard Fitzpatrick there is a letter written in the hand of Father John Bapst, SJ, and dated Oct. 20, 1854. In the letter, Father Bapst discusses a well-documented incident, where he was tarred and feathered.

It was a time of anti-Catholic sentiments and the parish he ministered seems to have been a hot-bed of Know-Nothings.  In fact, he was transferred for his safety.  However, a year later, he happened to be traveling through his old parish of Ellsworth and stopped to visit his some of his former parishioners.  While there the Know-Nothings grabbed him, stripped him, tarred and feathered him, placed him on a rail and promenaded him through town and eventually left to die.

No one was ever prosecuted for the incident.