"When heirloom seeds are shattered prematurely, no amount of sunshine, rain, or tender loving care will make them grow. So, too, are the seeds of humanity when destroyed by WAR." ANEW, ("SOFIA'S STORY") Book I, THE SCATTERED SEEDS TALES FROM THE "GREAT MELTING POT" was first published in 2013 when this self-published author set it as another edition of her first manuscript, THE SHATTERED SEEDS: "SOFIA'S STORY" (March 2011). It is a mainstream accessible, biographical, literary fiction, set in history in Pittsburgh, Atlanta, and Saigon. Suitable for young/adult readers and adult readers of all ages, the novel is a story within a story and it depicts the devastating results of war on the lives of two women living in the tumultuous 20th Century. They are the descendants of a long line of farmers whose life stories are revealed in their chance meeting where they share their life struggles amidst and determined by a century of war(s). The main character, Sofia, ran away from her Nazi husband in 1944, an ill-fated flight through Normandy that killed her two young children and left her with no family and no country. Fast forward to 1972, Sofia is now the widow of an African/American soldier killed in Korea in 1950 and the mother of their only son, who she had brought up alone in a racially torn America. After his helicopter is shot down in South Vietnam, she mourns again and a deep depression envelops her. It seems to her that everyone and everything that she has ever loved is gone. She finds solace in memories of her beloved patriotic German grandmother and the heritage quilt she had left behind when she had fled Berlin in 1944. Fast forward again to 2008, Sofia, now a famous writer of children's books about a "Magical Quilt" and the little known founder of worldwide children's centers meets a young writer named 'Janene McDeenon', also an immigrant to the United States. Only an infant when the Viet Cong had destroyed her village outside of Saigon in 1972, Janene became another victim of a senseless war. As the two women share their stories, they form an indelible bond that transpires time and the distance of three continents. Sofia promises to help Janene find her parents and delivers her a huge surprise, one that sets the tone for the remaining story. This is the original edition of the book recently made it available again in the Kindle after an episode of internet phishing in 2016. It is a stand-alone and non-sequential novel, volume one in the collection of stories about immigrant families titled, THE SCATTERED SEEDS TALES FROM THE GREAT MELTING POT. The books are available in worldwide distributions through Amazon, as print-on-demand at bookstores, through select libraries, and as part as the KDP Lending Program at amazon. Maura began writing in 2007 using the pen name 'R.E.CLUSE' and was quickly nicknamed "Clu Gallagher" . She has since preferred to use her author name, 'Maura Clu Gallagher'. Born in 1947 in Pittsburgh PA, she continues to live with her husband of almost fifty years. More information may be found by visiting her personally designed website: http: //www.clugallagher.com
About the Author: MAURA (CLU) GALLAGHER was born 'Maura English' in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on May 21, 1947. She studied Art Education and obtained a B.S. Degree from Edinboro Pennsylvania State Teachers College in 1970 and a Master's Equivalency from Penn State Extension and University of Pittsburgh. In addition she studied ART as a non degree student at Carnegie Institute of Technology in 1965-66 and worked as a secretary while working her way through college. A former Elementary Art Specialist with the Pittsburgh Public Schools, she retired in 2002 due to illness.