The O'Malleys is loosely based on my South Boston Irish Catholic family, my adventures in genealogy and my visits to Ireland.
While digging around in old records, I accidentally found my great grandmother, Anna Moran, a young woman who died at age 28, leaving two babies behind.
Anna's brother took her children in, and raised them as his own.
No one in my family ever knew that Anna existed until I found her in the archives at Boston City Hall. I believe she wanted me to find her. She wanted to be known.
I thought of all those immigrant women, their names never written down, lost to their families, lost to history, women like Anna.
Anna became Grianne in The O'Malleys, her child raised by others, her name forgotten. Until her great granddaughter finds her.
