Join us on Friday, November 7th, for an Hour with Catherine McLaughlin, author of Blue Collars, who will read and discuss excerpts from her book.

This heartwarming and heart-wrenching story, set in the South End of New Bedford, follows young Fiona “Finn” Kilroy, an Irish American during the late 1950s, ’60s, and ’70s. Theirs is a working-class, immigrant neighborhood, where Portuguese, Irish, French, African American, and Cape Verdean families live side by side in three-decker tenements in the shadow of the mills where they work. Blue Collars is a timeless story of a family’s enduring love triumphing over poverty, abuse, and heartache.

A published poet and an artist, McLaughlin taught English and writing for 40 years at UMASS Dartmouth and Framingham State University. In 2015, Catherine published a book of poetry called Under a Circus Moon. ” Blue Collars is her first attempt to delve into fiction. Catherine designed the cover artwork of Blue Collars. Living and teaching in various places, as well as having lived abroad in Dublin, Ireland, for a time, she retired and now resides locally.

This book includes references to sexual abuse of children, alcoholism, death, and loss.