History Serves as Backdrop for Coming-of-age Novel

Readers who would like to celebrate Saint Patrick’s Day, Irish-American Heritage Month, and the World War I Centennial (marking the 100^th anniversary of the US entering World War I) in the way they love and do best should read Sarah M. Krazinsky’s historical, coming-of-age novel “When Grass Was Green” (Dorrance Publishing, 2004). Events in the novel take place in the early 20^th century, and the story features an Irish-American girl, Peggy Connolly.
 
It was the summer of 1911, and Europe is on the brink of World War I, an event that will transform America into the mightiest power on earth. Peggy, a daughter of Irish immigrants, is more naïve than the town she lives in and the isolationist America that surrounds her. The Irish-American lass is torn between a father who holds onto religious and Irish customs, and a mother who embraces progress, including a woman’s right to vote. As expected of people her age, she falls in love: she develops romantic feelings for Sam O’Connell, a childhood friend.
 
Krazinsky, an author of Irish descent, pens “When Grass Was Green” to preserve the legacy of the early Irish immigrants and to celebrate Irish heritage through literature. Though fiction, the novel pursues the importance of the Irish-American experience in American history, through the emotions and thoughts of Peggy, a daughter of immigrants. In some ways, Peggy’s story is America’s story: as Peggy matures into a woman, America becomes a powerful nation to reckon with.
 
Ordinary stories of people like Peggy and her family occur as major events unfold in America and in different parts of the world. Although the events in “When Grass Was Green” take place offstage, they impact the lives of the characters. In historical fiction, the characters do not just inhabit the world where historical events occur: they are part of the whole historical narrative.
 
Avid readers of historical fiction and coming-of-age novels should not miss Krazinsky’s “When Grass Was Green,” which was recently displayed at the 2017 Frankfurt International Book Fair held last October 11. Copies of the book are available at Amazon.  
 
“When Grass Was Green”
Written by Sarah M. Krazinsky
Published by Dorrance Publishing Co., Inc.
Published date: February 2004
Paperback price: $17.00
 
About the Author 
Sarah M. Krazinsky, who has a Bachelor of Arts in History and a Master of Science in Education, comes of Irish stock herself and has a keen appreciation for the struggles of the early Irish immigrants. She lives in New York State and for many years wrote a historical column for the Chemung Valley Reporter. She hopes to reflect the reminiscences of a generation of women who are now passing, and to preserve them for future generations.

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