Summer Beam Books
Finding Home: An Irish American Story by Lois Farley Shuford
Finding Home: An Irish American Story by Lois Farley Shuford
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Finding Home: An Irish American Story
Contributor(s): Farley Shuford, Lois (Author)
Who is he? A nineteenth-century photograph glimpsed at a family reunion sets Lois Farley Shuford on a transatlantic quest to discover the life of her great-grandfather Patrick. Following his journeys between two continents, from the Great Irish Famine to the American Civil War and Westward Expansion, she uncovers not only his story but also her own-and a secret that her family kept for generations.
Finding Home: An Irish American Story traces one family through an epic century of disaster, epidemic, and divisions strong enough to tear countries apart. Part memoir, part family history, it captures the tumultuous events of the nineteenth century through the eyes of everyday people who lived them. These ordinary, yet extraordinarily resilient people strove for a better life, for a better world. In uncovering their stories, Farley Shuford explores how the past shapes the present and the lessons our ancestors have for us today.
Lois Farley Shuford was born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri. Driven by a desire to know what and who came before her, she relishes history, travel, genealogy, music, art, and baseball, and carries a deep love for Ireland in her heart. She has had a rich and varied career in all levels of education, most recently at the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. Mom to Becky, Gabe, Jes, and James, Lois shares an old house in Evanston, Illinois, with her husband, Bob, and their cats, George and Gracie.
Finding Home is an engrossing love letter to Ireland that emanates from the deepest human yearning to find one's own roots. Part history, part memoir, Lois Farley Shuford takes readers "beyond the pale" of the Irish countryside, to the doorstep of the American plains, and into dusty archives as she seeks to unravel her family's own Celtic knot. The result is a moving and poetic tale told with the humor and grace of a storyteller, the doggedness of an investigative journalist, and the incisiveness of a historian.
- Lauren Etter, Investigative reporter for Bloomberg News, and author of The Devil's Playbook
A picture can only say so much, but for Farley Shuford it said just enough to kick off a journey, and one that many are sure to treasure. In a personal story of research, and travel into her family's past, she takes us into her heart and into the painful reasons that pushed and pulled Irish people across oceans. It is a story for our time- and for all times so long as people seek new lives in new places. May it inspire you to dive into your family's history and to, wherever it might lead.
-Juan Carlos Hernández, Writer, and Immigration Program Coordinator, Chicago Religious Leadership Network on Latin America
Finding Home recounts Farley Shuford's captivating quest to learn her family history, explore her Irish roots, and, ultimately, to come home to herself. It's a must read for anyone who's ever wanted to truly know the soil and the souls that make up their ancestry.
- Nadine Kenney Johnston, author, writing coach, and Heart of the Story podcast host
A beautifully written story. An amazing immigration journey in which history is repeated and past becomes present. Farley Shuford's lyrical writing and dogged research transform one Irish family's immigration journey into a timely pilgrimage for families of today.
- Fr. Robert Oldershaw, Pastor emeritus, St. Nicholas Parish, Evanston, IL
