Mt. Airy author Lynn Gregory, who will appear at booked, 8511 Germantown Ave. on Saturday, April 19, 11 a.m., to discuss her third historical novel, “You've Found Her,” does not write non-fiction, but like most novelists, she does incorporate knowledge gained from her own life experiences into her literary work.
For example, her second novel, “So Much for Walls,” released in July 2022, begins with a seemingly random, traumatic carjacking incident at the Newark, N.J., train station, followed by a chance meeting with other people who played an important role in her family's past.
“I was the victim of a carjacking that took place at the Newark train station,” Gregory told the Local. “I wanted to find a way to incorporate how that kind of trauma can feel and be healed. Probably like most fiction writers, I’m most comfortable writing about people, places and experiences I have known. I spend a lot of time making sure the historical part of each book is accurate.”
Gregory, 77, is the embodiment of the maxim that it is never too late to pursue your passion. Born in Westchester County, New York, she lived from ages 1 to 6 in Argentina, where her father did business, and then grew up in Connecticut. She earned bachelor’s and master's degrees in anthropology from California State University in Long Beach and a doctorate in foundations of education from Temple University in 1982. She came to Philadelphia in 1974 for graduate studies at Temple. In 1980 she moved to Germantown and later to Mt. Airy. Most of her professional life was spent conducting anthropological research and teaching program evaluation at Arcadia University, general anthropology at Immaculata College and urban studies at Temple University.
In 2015, after a 45-year career in applied social science research, she retired from her position as executive director of partnerships at a small research firm she had founded, Partnerships for Creative Action. In that capacity, Gregory would be hired to study and evaluate programs and suggest ways to make them better. Many were focused on school reform. For example, she did a study of New York City high school students who had "turned around" from failure to success (“The Turnaround Process: Factors Influencing the School Success of At-Risk Youth,” The Journal of Adolescent Research, January, 1995).
Post-career, Gregory participated in a memoir writing workshop run by prolific Mt. Airy author Minter Krotzer at the Big Blue Marble Bookstore in West Mt. Airy. Each week, participants were asked to write two pages stimulated by a “prompt,” a word or image or passage that would bring to mind thoughts about a particular topic.
The writing prompt “Mother said” eventually led Gregory to turn a tsunami of childhood memories into a compelling 2020 novel, “The Other Side of a Tapestry,” published by Adelaide Books. “Tapestry” had experiences from her family's time in Argentina during the authoritarian regime of Juan and Evita Peron in parts of the 1940s and 1950s. “When we left Argentina on a plane,” Gregory told the Local, “My mother said, 'We do NOT love Evita.' You were always supposed to say you loved her, or you could be jailed.”
Gregory, who has also lived in Jersey City and Vermont, married and divorced Karl Biemuller, one-time editor of the now-defunct Mt. Airy Express newspaper and astronomy teacher for Mt. Airy Learning Tree. Biemuller died of Covid at age 72 in April 2020. Their daughter, Sarah Biemuller, a professional singer, lives in Northern Liberties with her husband, David Cope, a Chestnut Hill native and professional singer/songwriter who has been featured in the Chestnut Hill Local and whose songs have been performed at Quintessence Theatre in Mt. Airy. Gregory's husband, Raymond Basanta, is retired from a career in marketing. The couple have three cats and a gentle 90-pound dog named Josh.
Her new book, “You've Found Her,” a sequel to “The Other Side of a Tapestry,” is a fascinating tale set in late-20th century Argentina, Northern Ireland and the U.S. It tells the intertwined stories of exiled Argentine spy, Ofelia Cruz, and the twin daughters she gave up at birth. The twins, who grew up separately in Argentina and the U.S., first met six months previously at the age of 38. Motivated to develop their own relationship and to understand why their biological mother gave them up at birth, they travel to Northern Ireland, where their mother has been hiding for the past eight years. Their reunion launches events that drive Ofelia out of hiding and back into Argentina's complicated political quicksand.
“I like to write the kinds of books I like to read,” Gregory said. “The characters are fun. I had a traditional publisher for the first book and got royalties for one year but then no more. But self-publishing is not as punishing as it once was. I did everything I wanted to do in my long career, but writing books I do for fun. If it stopped being fun, I wouldn't do it anymore.”
Lynn Gregory can be contacted on her Facebook page. For more information about the booked event, visit bookedch.com. Len Lear can be reached at lenlear@chestnuthilllocal.com
