A Memoir of an Event-Filled Life
Through the Eyes of a Child
MY PATCHWORK LIFE
By Patricia O'Connor
ISBN 0-9739327-0-8
Starcast Publishers
By CATHOLINE BUTLER
I met Dublin-born author Patricia O'Connor at the Irish Women's Network Fall Tea after she had read some excerpts from her book, My Patchwork Life, which is told through the eyes of a child.
Patricia has lived a varied and exciting life. She was one of Ireland's top models, a television presenter and has appeared many times on RTE in Ireland and on CBS and ABC in America. She has degrees in Media and Journalism and in Business Administration.
She is a member of the Writers Guild of Great Britain and the Irish Writers Union and has written numerous business and training manuals for companies and she also gives seminars. Patricia also has psychic abilities that she believes has given her great insight into being able to help people in her work today, especially in her seminar work.
Her book My Patchwork Life is about Patricia's life. She tells of growing up as a child in a family of six in Dublin, her life when the family moved to England, and finally when she moved to the United States to marry the love of her life.
It wasn't an easy life for Patricia, but some of her tales are quite hilarious, such as the time she decided to go into the manure business to help make money for the family. The story of her religious experience was heartrending and absolutely cruel.
She tells of the visit of the priest to the school before the children made their first communion and of Miss Brown, their teacher, who was an absolutely horrid sadist. Miss Brown told the children that at their first confession they must tell the priest all of their sins, and did they have any questions.
Patricia, not really understanding what a sin was, innocently asked what would happen if she couldn't remember her sins. Miss Brown, told her that she would answer that question when the priest left the school. Miss Brown did answer her question by telling Patricia that she would burn in hell forever.
Another time the teacher asked the children to talk about their pets. Patricia told the class about her family cat that danced when her father played the fiddle. The teacher accused her of lying and for her to apologize to the class. When Patricia said that she wasn't lying the teacher locked her in a broom closet for several hours.
My husband, who was born and raised in Ireland, has told me of similar experiences with teachers who should never have been teachers. As a result he left school and never finished his education.
Fortunately, Patricia's next teacher was the complete opposite of Miss Brown. Patricia credits Miss Mulcahy with seeing her potential to become a writer and the years spent with her had a lasting impact on Patricia for the rest of her life.
Throughout My Patchwork Life, we get to know all of Patricia's family, her aunts and uncles, and her grandparents as she describes them all in graphic detail. All the family secrets are out, right down to her father's infidelity at her birthday party.
One other family member that had a big impact on Patricia's life was her grandmother, Maggie. Patricia spent her summer holidays visiting with her and Maggie encouraged and saw the talent and potential that Patricia had to offer the world.
I remember as a child when my mother or someone would read us children an interesting story and they would come to the part where they would say, "and that's another story," we never wanted the story to end.
We would plead with the reader to continue on, but to no avail. That's the way Patricia ends her story. She had gone to America to marry Brian and life was full of magic..then later on, when everything should have been wonderful, her private life started to fall apart.
That's where she leaves us, wanting to know more. But Patricia is already half way through My Patchwork Life Part II, so we'll just have to wait for the next chapter in her life.
Patricia has just released her newest book, a novel entitled The Search For Jacqueline. This will be out in time for the Christmas market.
This one is a novel about Annie O'Hanlon, Irish-born supermodel, who returns home for her father's funeral. She is handed an envelope with a picture of her father with a young woman named Jacqueline.
When she discovers that this woman was her mother and that she was adopted, she becomes obsessed with trying to find Jacqueline, even though she was told that Jacqueline had died giving birth to her. The search takes a new twist when she meets Dermot Moore, a journalist who tells her that he also believes Jacqueline is alive.
I asked Patricia O'Connor about the picture of the beautiful young woman on the book cover of The Search For Jacqueline, who I thought looked like the well-known Irish singer Enya. Patricia laughed and said, "that's me when I was a model in Ireland."
Patricia O'Connor's books can be obtained or ordered on line from Chapters, or any of the Black Bond Bookstores, Albany books, or www.oconnorsmithandassociates.com or books@starcast.tv.
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