Sisters who were Sisters x2

Got a soft spot for cryptic titles? Me too!

The other weekend, armed with curiosity and hope, I decided to scale my family tree, hunting for forgotten tales. Since writing Flower in the River, this has been my stock in trade…

…I’ve always had this itch for dusting off old stories, finding faces and names swallowed by time. I hold a tender spot for the tales of my young, unmarried female immigrant kin. Their narratives, often brushed aside, resonate with a unique blend of hardship and resilience. Unrelated to the Eastland, which is my eternal “muse,” given my family’s connection to the event. It’s yet deeply woven into my family’s fabric and continues to inspire me to tell other “lost” stories.

Take the case of my two aunts, Maria Elizabeth Vrabel (Sister M. Celsa Vrabel, OSF) and Suzanna Vrabel (Sister M. Pulcheria Vrabel). These two couldn’t share their stories and I wanted to do them justice.

I often employ a quirky approach to family history and here’s an example: here are the lives of my two great-aunts in graphic novel-ette form!