The Broken Harp Has Launched!
COVER REVEAL: The Broken Harp
The Broken Harp, set for release in time for Saint Patrick’s Day, is suspenseful adventure story with layers and tidbits of Irish culture and history woven throughout.
World War II has reached neutral Ireland where
loyalties are divided and secrets can be dangerous.
Twelve-year-old Brian McGrath’s world turns upside down
when his father is thrown into jail, accused of being
part of the Irish Republican Army. With their family shaken and
food growing scarce, Brian and his older brother Patrick are
struggling to hold things together.
Then they make a discovery that could change everything.
Lying on the shore nearby, a badly wounded RAF pilot asks them for help. He’s an
American who secretly left home to fight the Nazis. Helping him
could mean serious trouble with local who favor Germany in the war. But turning him
away feels even worse.
With no other adult they can trust, the brothers turn to Mary,
a quiet weaver shunned by the village. She is hiding secrets of her
own, including two Jewish children she has sworn to protect. As
danger closes in, Brian and Patrick must find the courage to do
what is right, even if it means risking everything they have left.
MILICO MATHERS is an award-winning author of Wandering
Swallow, A Young Girl’s Quest for Freedom. Having spent more than
twenty-five years teaching students from middle school to college,
she is also a wife, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, and,
by family decree, the baker of cookies.
LILY HILDEBRAND is a college student who sings, acts, draws, and is studying physical therapy.
Stay tuned! Amazon link coming soon!
Image Credit: cover image and logo below by Lily Hildebrand
Our new website milicomathersreads.com is accepting reviews for middle reader books–especially those written by middle school students. Message me at readgoodbooks@milicomathersreads.com or in the comments below.
Permissions: You are permitted and encouraged to reproduce and distribute this material in any format provided that you do not alter the wording in any way, do not charge a fee beyond the cost of reproduction, and you credit the author.
Disclosure of Material Connection: I have not received any compensation for writing this post. I have no material connection to the entities I have mentioned. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
Our new website milicomathersreads.com is accepting reviews for middle reader, YA, and literary books–especially those written by middle school and high school students. Message me at readgoodbooks@milicomathersreads.com or in the comments below.
Milicomathers reserves the right to edit or reject any submissions.
Signing the Contract for Broken Harp
Set in neutral Ireland in 1941, Broken Harp tells the story of brothers Brian and Patrick McGrath, their sister Nan, and their parents, Sean and Sarah, during days of great division on the Emerald Island.
During World War II, Ireland is torn between a government that is subtly supporting the British and a portion of the population loyal to Germany, the nation that helped them become independent of British rule almost 20 years earlier.
The Irish police arrest Sean, accusing him of having connections to the Irish Republican Army.
Without their beloved father’s wisdom, Patrick and Brian must decide what to do when they discover a wounded American/RAF pilot (Yes, that actually happened). They join forces with an outcast weaver who is harboring two Jewish children and ultimately work to return the pilot to his post.
The metaphor of a broken harp refers to Ireland’s national symbol–a harp–and a nation divided geographically and philosophically.
Lily Hildebrand has agreed to illustrate again. The image below is of Brian, the narrator.
I’m signing again with EA Books Publishing with an intended release date of March 17, 2026.
My website milicomathersreads.com is accepting reviews for middle reader books–especially those written by middle school students. Message me at nancyehead@yahoo.com or in the comments below.
Permissions: You are permitted and encouraged to reproduce and distribute this material in any format provided that you do not alter the wording in any way, do not charge a fee beyond the cost of reproduction, and you credit the author.
Disclosure of Material Connection: I have not received any compensation for writing this post. I have no material connection to the entities I have mentioned. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
Wolf Hollow: Uncovering Assumptions
When I held my second child, my first son, a thought struck me: When he grows up, there could be a war.
This innocent life in my arms and the horror of war were ideas that did not go together. I would hold two more infant sons, but the idea of war would not pass through my mind at those early moments of getting to know each other.
My oldest son never went to war. The other two, in varying capacities, did.
We seldom see ahead of time how things will work out. I’m glad I didn’t spend 20 plus years of each soldier son’s life wondering about their deployments. My assumptions would likely have been for naught.
A very good book leads us to a similar place. And Wolf Hollow is that very good book.
Placing the opening lines on the front cover was a masterful marketing touch by the publisher because the words draw us in. The proof is in the book’s status as a New York Times bestseller.
Here’s a portion of those first lines: “The year I turned twelve, I learned how to lie. The year I turned twelve, I learned what I said and did mattered.”
Annabelle is the soon-to-be-twelve-year-old who lies to protect someone from a false accusation. She tells lies to produce truth. She also learns enough about war to fear someday becoming the mother of sons.
I waited for one character to change, but she didn’t. I thought another character would not change, but she did.
We have to be careful about our assumptions when we read fiction.
The society looked upon one character with regard. They shouldn’t have. They looked at another character with disdain. They should not have.
We have to be careful about our assumptions in real life too.
But the lesson about assumptions is not the only reason to read the book–even if you are usually not inclined to read in the young adult genre.
Author Lauren Wolk is a masterful character builder, and she exemplifies storytelling at its best. I stayed up later than I wanted to a couple of nights because I couldn’t put the book down.
Few books have engaged me that well. Others that come to mind include John Steinbeck’s East of Eden and Leif Enger’s Peace like a River.
Both books carried me to the very last word and left me with a sense of satisfaction. This book does the same.
All three books satisfy readers without sugar coating life or their imperfect characters.
Today we find ourselves in a world stamped with injustice. Annabelle inhabited such a world.
This book invites us into her world. The world of small community America during a big war, World War II. But the wounds of World War I still resonate.
Annabelle is a farm girl with two younger brothers who all live with their parents, grandparents, and a cranky aunt.
She meets bullies at school. She meets a strange man in the woods. She should fear one but not the other.
The book covers a matter of days. But by the end, Annabelle is a young woman. (She was a character I expected to change who did.)
Like us as we grow older, Annabelle learns things she wishes she could forget. She never will.
She will carry those things with her into her later years.
We will carry them with us too and be the better for it.
Photo Credit: Wolf Hollow Cover
Nancy E. Head’s Restoring the Shattered is out in paperback! Get your copy here!
Permissions: You are permitted and encouraged to reproduce and distribute this material in any format provided that you do not alter the wording in any way, do not charge a fee beyond the cost of reproduction, and you credit the author.
Disclosure of Material Connection: I have not received any compensation for writing this post. I have no material connection to the entities I have mentioned. Restoring the Shattered is published through Morgan James Publishing with whom I do share a material connection. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
Uncommon Valor
“Poor is the nation that has no heroes. Poorer still is the nation that, having heroes, fails to remember and honor them.” Marcus Tullius Cicero
Today is Memorial Day in the United States. It’s a day we mark with picnics and parades. The unofficial beginning of summer, yet so much more than the chance to eat hot dogs and buy a new swimsuit.
Decoration Day, as the holiday was originally known, began after the Civil War–our bloodiest conflict. It was a time when a divided country was trying to heal–perhaps as we are today.
We mark the day on the last Monday of May–but May 30 had been the selected date before three-day weekends became a priority. May 30 reminds us of no notable battles from the Civil War. The day only reminds us of those who’ve given themselves for the cause of country–our country.
We enrich ourselves in this remembering.
Remembering those who’ve done noble things tells us we can be noble too.
Of his sailors and marines at Iwo Jima in World War II, Admiral Chester Nimitz said, “Uncommon valor was a common virtue.” Iwo Jima is famous for the flag-raising image that is now a statue.
Three of the six flag raisers died in battle.
My father was in the South Pacific as a Navy medic. He was someone who went to war to make sure others came home safely. Someone who hoped not to see battle–but was prepared in case he did,
“Courage, G.K. Chesterton said, “is almost a contradiction in terms. It means a strong desire to live taking the form of readiness to die.”
Today we remember those who wanted to live but gave themselves instead.
For us.
Photo Credit: Unsplash and National Geographic
Nancy E. Head’s Restoring the Shattered is out in paperback! Get your copy here!
Permissions: You are permitted and encouraged to reproduce and distribute this material in any format provided that you do not alter the wording in any way, do not charge a fee beyond the cost of reproduction, and you credit the author.
Disclosure of Material Connection: I have not received any compensation for writing this post. I have no material connection to the entities I have mentioned. Restoring the Shattered is published through Morgan James Publishing with whom I do share a material connection. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
The Restoration of Confession
“[A]
[D]irt, soot, and grime can build up on both sides of
Six months after I became a mother, my own mother passed away from congestive heart disease. She was only fifty-four, and I was only nineteen. Her illness took her quickly, and there was no time for the kind of healing conversations that might have reduced my regret after she was gone.
After she died, Dad decided to sell the house and move into a small apartment. As we were helping him prepare for his move, my brother and I were cleaning the attic and musing over some of our finds. I still have two—a silver sugar bowl and a veneered dresser that sits in my dining room. But our most fascinating treasure was inside the top drawer of the otherwise empty dresser—a letter Dad had written to his future mother-in-law, Mother Miller, as he called her.
He was writing from California where he was waiting to deploy to the uncertainty of the South Pacific during World War II. He wrote of his sense of “blank thrill”—a combination of “the feeling of the unknown and also adventure.” He discussed how much he enjoyed the navy and how glad he was to be with the men beside him. He expressed his eagerness to return to those he loved after the war. “Back home, I have a wonderful collection of friends; good ones. You and your family come first, Nan of this group being first. She means everything in life for me—and to think about her and the two of us together after the war makes all this worthwhile.”
Dad wrote of three things that gave him a sense of security. First was his assurance in the men he was with: “in our commanders and the reason we are going, also we will be successful in our detail.” The second was his friends at home and “the strength my love for Nan gives me and hers for me.” His third source of strength was his “faith and trust in God.” The first two addressed “my worldly cares, the last, my spiritual … I can leave tomorrow satisfied completely in everything I live for. Not a question in my mind of a thing left undone, or a word unkindly said, not righted, not a care.” The letter was dated August 10, 1942, eight months after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
Years later I mentioned the letter to him. “I was saying goodbye” was his response, “just in case.”
The part of the letter that has always stuck with me is that he left “no word unkindly said, not righted.” He had done all he could to make everything right with everyone he was leaving behind. He might have been able to convince himself that he didn’t have time to fix things with everyone or that whatever he had done wrong was not a big deal. Instead, “just in case,” he had made things right.
I spent many years dwelling on the sins of my husband before I fully acknowledged my own. I told myself that his sins were of greater magnitude than mine and the cause for justifiable bitterness. My own sins were tiny, long ago, easily explained away as the result of immaturity and, therefore, easily forgiven. Year by year conviction peeled back layers of self-justification and excuses. I marveled that so many years after the poor decisions I made, the consequences of my sin had such weight.
I can look back now and see that God redeemed and restored much that my sin could have destroyed forever.
* * * * *
Up close and personal, the other person’s sins always seem bigger than our own. We don’t see the judgmental beam in our own eye for the speck in theirs. Inevitably, hindsight comes closer to 20/20. As the image of the window becomes clearer, so does the reflection of ourselves in it.
Time gives us the objectivity to see two sides where before we could only see one. We realize that we too are not without sin. We have no stones to throw. We can give forgiveness and ask for it too. The perspective of time gives us the opportunity to repent of sins that might seem long ago and far away. Only Christ, through our true repentance, can wash them away.
Repentance is how we start to restore the image of the Bride, not in a public relations sense, but in a biblical one. And repentance begins with the faithful.
Why the faithful? Isn’t repentance something for the unbelieving population to grasp—those we perceive are messing up the world and dragging our culture into a downward spiral? Yes, it’s something they need to do to become part of the Bride, part of the picture. But the kind of repentance that can turn the world around is for us. It’s for his people already in the church.
I didn’t come to this idea on my own. I’d been praying for our nation to turn back to God, but in my mind that always involved something someone else needed to do. I’ll pray. I’ll watch. I’ll work when I can. I’ll cheer when it happens.
At brunch one day, my longtime friend, Renee, dropped a brick of truth on my head. “He calls his own people to repentance—my people … called by my Name.”
That is me.
That is us.
….
Confession, they say, is good for the soul. When we let others see who we truly are, they can be transparent with us. We can become companions who mentor and disciple each other. Mentoring helps us find a new path in life. Discipling includes bearing one another’s burdens, and confession is part of that. Discipling helps us navigate our new path in faith that grows as it goes.
Christ is the Great Forgiver and the Great Physician who cleans the glass. The repentant church in accord radiates the image of the window in vivid clarity.
* * * * *
“I wish,” Scrooge muttered, putting his hand in his pocket, and looking about him, after drying his eyes with his cuff: “but it’s too late now.”
“What is the matter?” asked the Spirit.
“Nothing,” said Scrooge. “Nothing. There was a boy singing a Christmas Carol at my door last night. I should like to have given him something: that’s all.”[i]
—Charles Dickens
[i] Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol, Stave Two (London: Chapman and Hall, 1846), Project Gutenberg, released August 11, 2004, https://www.gutenberg.org/files/46/46-h/46-h.htm.
Excerpted from Restoring the Shattered: Illustrating Christ’s Love Through the Church in One Accord–in paperback January 22, 2019.
[i] Neal A. Vogel and Rolf Achilles, “The Preservation and Repair of Historic Stained and Leaded Glass,” National Park Service, Technical Preservation Services, October 2007, https://www.nps.gov/tps/how-to-preserve/briefs/33-stained-leaded-glass.htm.