NORTH EAST — It’s been in the works for some 20 years, but Linda Eighmy finally has her hands on her self-published book “Mary Elizabeth Quigley Is Listening to the Sunrise.”
“Listening to the sunrise is kind of an intended theme because she’s blind,” Eighmy said of her central character.
Having experience working with special needs children, Eighmy noticed that people who are differently abled are never the protagonist in books. Through Mary Elizabeth Quigley, she plans to change that literary faux pas.
“The story is loosely based on a family of six I knew,” she said of the Quigley family; a single dad raising three boys and a girl. Although her sight is limited, Mary Elizabeth is a rough and tumble tomboy of 10 with a best friend Neil and a lot of adventures. That includes being teased — and also teasing — those three brothers; Max, Clay and Jo B.
“Mary Elizabeth is determined to find her father a wife,” Eighmy said.
You have to read the book to learn if she succeeds.
She said Mary Elizabeth is out to change people’s attitudes and pre-conceived notions of living differently abled. You’ll get drawn into her world of sounds and smells and perhaps it will make you realize your other senses.
However, Mary Elizabeth Quigley doesn’t stay in one place. From something as simple as going down the hall to get a soda, to roaming freely in her town near the Chesapeake Bay, she takes you with her. Neil is her eyes but she’s a force with which to be reckoned.
Mary Elizabeth Quigley is Listening to the Sunrise, published by Archway, is available on Amazon in hardback, paperback and e-book.
“I want it as an Audible and in Braille,” Eighmy said. According to her, the book is written for older elementary through middle school ages, but adults will enjoy it too.
Article Credits: Cecil Daily