In the early 20th century, how did a woman rise from her Irish immigrant roots to claim her place in the man's world of Midwestern America? Meet Kitty. Kitty’s People is the intimate portrait of the author's grandmother Kitty Flanagan. You'll walk in her footsteps from her youth as the daughter of ambitious Irish immigrants, through her years as a young mother and businesswoman plagued by senseless tragedy. Then, you'll cheer for her rise as the woman-in-charge—confident, organized, fierce, and supremely generous. Her story lies at the heart of a multi-generational family saga, woven from oral histories and deep research. Despite their talents and hard work, life for Kitty's people in the American Midwest becomes an epic battle. They must pit the goals of prosperity and loving family life against the forces of disease, organized crime, alcoholism, fires, a wicked stepmother, abortion, and cold-blooded murder. It's a wild ride from the turn-of-the-century Gilded Age to the Great Depression. How does Kitty manage? How does she find love and laughter in a world gone mad? If you love true stories of grit and perseverance, you'll love Kitty and her people. They are the salt of the earth. Centered on the life of an Irish American woman and family who persevere in the face of every hardship America could throw at them between the 1880s and the Great Depression, Price's sweeping historical novel stands as an engaging story of grit, determination, and love, bringing fresh life to the memories of past generations' with painstaking research and a novelist's imaginative power. Price draws from the life of her own grandmother, the model for Kitty Flanagan, the "generous woman" (and eventual "bearcat") that Kitty's People follows from hopscotching in LeClaire, Illinois, to a teen running the register at a market in St. Louis during the First World War, to facing personal tragedy and holding the family together at the height of the Roaring '20s and beyond. The lives of Kitty and her people are bumptious, as early on scandal inspires a move to St. Louis, where they work in mills and as mechanics and bookkeepers, and also find some success, as father Moses, a planner and supervisor, helps build the 1904 World's Fair. (Young Kitty screams "We're rich!" when the family gets a car in 1907.) Eventually, they seize the opportunity of opening a grocery, all as they face wrenching travails: natural disasters, mental and physical health issues, a rowdy brother's temptations toward a life of crime, tragedies personal and public, and even a literal wicked stepmother. "The blood pumping through the marvelous mechanical heart of this new world is Irish," Kitty's father notes, early on, and both Kitty and Price's love for this family, their lineage, and their era shines through a novel that at times emphasizes thoroughness over narrative momentum. But readers fascinated by Irish-American immigrant life will relish the telling as Kitty—whose people tilt between Mass and respectability on the one hand and Egan's Rats and after-hour lid clubs on the other—perseveres toward a satisfyingly happy ending. The book is an act of love. Takeaway: This historical novel, an act of love, digs into an extraordinary Irish-American woman's life and family. Great for fans of: Kerby Miller and Patricia Mulholland Miller's Journey of Hope: The Story of Irish Immigration to America , Pamela Records' Tied With Twine . Production grades Cover: A- Design and typography: A Editing: A Marketing copy: A -- BookLife Review In Kitty's Peopl e, Susan Barrett Price delivers a biographical novel that traces her family's Irish immigrant roots over three generations, from the Gilded Age to the Great Depression... Kitty is a complex, likable figure who understands that "As her past disintegrates behind her, she needs to see the future." Though determined in her goals, she's not above letting loose at times. As Kitty increasingly takes charge of her life amid continuing crises, she resolves that whatever the future brings, she "damn well won't be bullied into humble retreat now." In the Preface, Price describes her extensive research to fill gaps left by her ancestors' documents and acknowledges the "application of storytelling methods to complete the picture." Her efforts result in a sweeping saga whose momentum only occasionally slows. She imbues each of her relatives with unique personalities while relating their experiences to the relevant historical circumstances. Even fashion plays a role in providing context, whether it be Maggie's corseted figure or Kitty's bobbed hair and cinched waist. This is a thoroughly researched, well written, fictionalized family history that provides an engrossing look at an Irish-American family's experience in the Midwest from 1885-1934. --Blue Ink Review A biographical novel combines a family history and an immense tapestry of oral histories, focusing on a beloved grandmother. In Chicago in November