“

When we are young, we think we invent ourselves. Our direction is centrifugal, out and away from family. All these phantoms Mary was inventing for me, who were they and what had they to do with me? But of course as we get older, we discover we are mostly all prodigals. Acceding to the centripetal pull, we return.

from The Guthrie Road
The Guthrie Road

Black Moss Press, 2009. The Guthrie Road will be published in Italian by Cose di parole Associazione Culturale in 2016. Translated by Laura Ferri.

In The Guthrie Road, Sullivan takes a deep look into her Irish roots and the history of the Guthrie/Sullivan family of which she is a proud member.

The Guthrie Road is interwoven with the history of Irish immigrants in Montreal. Using old photographs, letters and stories shared by her mother and aunts, Sullivan paints a vivid picture of the hardships faced by members of her family.

To read this book is like sitting at the family table and sharing stories that come together to create a tale that is both original and touching.  Sullivan weaves several historical accounts into a tapestry of family exploration.

This book offers readers a personal look into Irish heritage and examines the legacy in an organic story-telling setting. Sullivan becomes fearless of her past and interested in figuring out the phantoms of her history and her blood that call her to discover “how much of who we are is the product of our own choices?”

Extracted in BLOODLINES: “STRANGERS IN SMITHS FALLS,” THE BEST OF CANADA WRITES, CBC GLOBAL, 2013.

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