Christine marks launch of new book IRISH-AMERICAN IS BACK IN KILLORGLIN, WHERE SHE WROTE NOVEL, ‘STILL HERE’

BUNKERS Bar in Killorglin was the scene of a wine reception, good music, and a large crowd last Wednesday night – and there was also the little matter of a book launch to attend to.

Former Killorglin resident Christine Duffy-Zerillo was back to the town where she wrote ‘Still Here’, an historical fiction which focuses on two women: Mary Rowlandson, a minister’s wife captured in an Indian Raid near Boston, Massachusetts, during King Philip’s War in the 17th century; and her captor, Sachem Weetamoo.

The book is based on Rowlandsown’s own account of her captivity, ‘The Sovereignty and Goodness of God’.

Christine grew up in Massachusetts, where her grandfather passed on stories of King

Philip’s War, stories that had themselves been passed down to him. These stories inspired Christine to study that time in history and to eventually write her book.

On the night, Christine – who was a freelance journalist, college administrator, and writing instructor for many years, and now teaches writing courses at Franklin Pierce University – was accompanied by many of her old friends, including those who provided music to the occasion: Tom O’Sullivan and the Myles O’Brien-led Killorglin Men’s Social Club Choir.

The book is available to purchase online at amazon.co.uk, but one can also pick up a copy at Crystal Cave book store in Killorglin.

Christine has also made a copy available to Killorglin Library.

Photos by Michael G Kenny. Orna Eccles, Anne Zielke, Sam Zerillo, Chris Duffy-Zerillo, Ger Counihan and Tom O’Sullivan, all attending the book launch of ‘Still Here’ by Chris Duffy-Zerillo at Bunkers Bar, Killorglin.

Chris Duffy-Zerillo

Photos by Michael G Kenny. Chris Duffy-Zerillo and her husband, Sam Zerillo, at the launch of her latest book, ‘Still Here’.