Mary Pat Kelly Galway Bay Book

So much of Galway Bay came to me as a gift. The characters emerged as I researched my family history. I'd browse though a library and find the perfect book. And once while I was walking a Florida beach I met a woman who told me the story of the "Mary Bean" - a pod from Africa that washed up on the Irish shore and because of the cross etched on the front, it became a talisman held by women in child birth. What a story. I put it in the book.

Last week I was walking the same beach and met the same woman. I told her how grateful I was for the story. She said she had found a bean herself years before here. We agreed to meet the next morning. A gorgeous sunrise, a magnificent ocean greeted me. And my friend was smiling. She handed me the Mary Bean she'd found years before on that very beach. What a good omen as the launch date of Galway Bay the book approaches!

- Mary Pat Kelly