About the Author
Molly Mahoney Matthews did not grow up dreaming of becoming a writer, so this book is a surprise and a career pivot. She spent many years as business woman, built a company, and wanted to encourage other entrepreneurs. She wrote a short, nonfiction book: Job-IQ: How to Find a Job, Create a Career, Build a Business. Working on the manuscript, she joined a writer’s group and became intrigued with fiction writing. Molly wrote one chapter of Irish Luck, Chinese Medicine and discovered she loved telling stories, channeling what her characters had to say. Now she can’t stop writing is currently turning Irish Luck, Chinese Medicineinto a trilogy: a prequel, Chinese Luck, and a sequel, Irish Medicine. Molly and her husband live outside of Washington, D.C. and during the winter are snow birds in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
Why this topic?
With our current immigration crisis and the #metoo movement, I wanted to tell the story of a woman’s entrepreneurship as a gateway for family survival and assimilation. The model for the book’s protagonist was my great grandmother who emigrated from Ireland in 1881 but the themes of of multiculturalism, injustice, child labor, and forbidden love are timeless.
What I believe
I belief my great grandmother and my other characters channeled these stories. I also have faith that the circle is unbroken and perhaps one day I will meet Johanna and we will know one another well. I hope I got her story right and won’t be surprised if it turns out some of what I thought was fiction at the time may have happened to her.
