New Novel, “Call Me Kate: Meeting the Molly Maguires” by Molly Roe

Blue Mountain Moments
February 2009

New Novel, “Call Me Kate: Meeting the Molly Maguires” by Molly Roe

Tribute Books announces the release of Call Me Kate: Meeting the Molly Maguires by Molly Roe. The novel of historical fiction is aimed at educating while entertaining a young adult audience. Roe is a contributing author to Chicken Soup for the Soul: Teens Talk High School, as well as a teacher at Lake-Lehman Junior Senior High School.

Novel Summary: Coming of age amidst the seething unrest of the Civil War era, feisty 14-year-old Katie McCafferty infiltrates the Molly Maguires, a secret Irish organization, to rescue a lifelong friend. Under the guise of a male draft resister, Katie volunteers for a dangerous mission in hopes of preventing bloodshed. Katie risks job, family, and ultimately her very life to intervene. A series of tragedies challenge Katie's strength and ingenuity, and she faces a crisis of conscience. Can she balance her sense of justice with the law? Call Me Kate is suitable for readers from eleven to adult. The story is dramatic and adventuresome, yet expressive of daily life in the patches of the hard coal region during the Civil War.

Praise for Call Me Kate: "The writing style employed in the book entertains, educates and communicates to the reader a general understanding of the hardships of life in the anthracite coal fields of northeast Pennsylvania in the nineteenth century and Irish-American history." - Bill Strassner, Museum Educator, Eckley Miners’ Village.

Author Bio: Molly Roe is the pen name of Mary Garrity Slaby, a veteran language arts & reading teacher at Lake-Lehman Junior Senior High School. Mary holds a Ph.D. in education from Temple University, and Pennsylvania teaching certification in six areas. She has pursued the hobby of genealogy for the past decade. Mary was born in Philadelphia, raised in Schuylkill County, and currently lives in Dallas, Pennsylvania with her husband, John. They are parents of two grown children, Melissa and John Garrett, cover illustrator of Call Me Kate. Digging into the past has given Mary newfound respect for her ancestors and a better understanding of history. Call Me Kate is the first in the author’s trilogy of historical novels loosely based on the lives of the strong women who preceded her.