Book Signing Announced For Bergen Superintendent's Memoir With Mother-In-Law

HAWTHORNE, NJ — A Bergen school administrator announced a book signing for the memoir he co-wrote about his mother-in-law.

Dr. Tom Gorman will hold a book signing Sunday, March 20 at Shortway's Barn, 991 Goffle Road, Hawthorne. He co-authored the book "I Called Her Mary" with his mother-in-law Margaret E. "Peg" O'Hagan, an Irish immigrant.

The book follows Peg, who got pregnant as a teenager. Her parents sent her to an abbey to have the baby, where she is "heckled and stigmatized by townspeople for nine months." She gives up the baby, Mary, for adoption and leaves home for a new life in America.

Fifty years after Mary was born, Peg received a phone call from her lost daughter. Gorman interviewed Peg and Mary both for the book, and their story is one of hardship and unconditional love.

The book signing begins at 1 p.m. and bagpipers will perform at 3.

Those who have purchased an e-book will be honored with signed notecards, Gorman said.

Another book signing will follow at Bookends on May 22, according to Gorman.