In January of 1939 when British film star Barbara Greene met Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr., son of the American Ambassador, she could not have expected that their relationship would lead to her emigrating to the United States and learning to pilot a plane. Nor could her brother have foreseen his bitter retreat from Dunkirk when he left England in January 1940 to fight in France, or his subsequent service on the frontlines in Cornwall, North Africa, Sicily, and Burma.
Join author Barbara Kent Lawrence at 5:30pm on Thursday, May 7th at the Jesup Library to learn about the adventures in family research that led her to write her 9th book: Both Sides of the Pond, My Family’s War, 1933-1946 about her mother Barbara Greene and uncle Kent. Many of the things she thought she knew from family stories turned out not to be true but to be even more extraordinary than she anticipated. Her presentation will look the discoveries and mysteries in her own research and the importance of knowing our histories.
Reviewers have praised the book:
Read this book and be shocked, thrilled and moved. From heady and improbable love affairs amidst the falling bombs to the gritty deprivations of daily life, it’s all here in a timeless well-told tale.
—Evan Thomas, New York Times best-selling author
What a wonderful book! The description of the humiliating retreat through Dunkirk is the best I have ever read.
—Roy V. Martin, Master Mariner and author of Ebb and Flow “
I loved this book and couldn’t put it down. History and the complexity of human relationships unfold with uncommon grace." —Barbara Lazear Ascher, winner of Pushcart Editors Award
I was immersed and riveted by this, a moving and beautiful narrative about a gifted brother and sister navigating the darkness of World War II.
—William Carpenter, award-winning author of The Wooden Nickel.
Barbara Kent Lawrence, Ed.D., is the author of many articles and nine books, including an award-winning dissertation about the influence of culture on aspirations in Maine. Her new book, "Both Sides of the Pond, My Family’s War: 1933 - 1946," is available in book stores and on amazon.com.
A former professor, she has taught courses in anthropology and sociology, research, and writing non-fiction and memoir. Lawrence grew up in New York City and Washington D.C., then earned a BA in anthropology from Bennington College, an MA in sociology from New York University, and an Ed.D. in Administration, Policy and Planning from Boston University.
In addition to teaching, Lawrence has worked for the Department of Social Services and the Housing Development Administration in New York, directed a small museum in Maine, co-run a brokerage and construction company, consulted for the Rural School and Community Trust and KnowledgeWorks, and started four non-profit organizations supporting the environment and students. She was a summer kid on MDI until in 1979 she moved to Maine and graduated into the role of "year-round summer person." When not working she loves to garden, knit, and go for walks, pastimes she learned from her British mother. She now lives in Brunswick, Maine and is working on the third novel in her Islands series. Visit https://linktr.ee/barbarakentlawrenceauthor. Photo by Kayte Churchill Ledgehill Photography.