Look and Listen

Biography

Love of the written word has been part of Murphy's life since a child. An avid reader, she began to pen stories as young as age 8, when she wrote her first book about a horse named Lightening. As the years progressed, her writing primarily focused on her nursing career and educational pursuits but venturing onto the stage one day, she broadened her horizons into acting and music. This led her into script, poetry and songwriting. Murphy remains active in local theatre as a performer, singer, and writer. In 2001, she left a 25 year career as a psychiatric nurse and as a community health clinical nurse specialist, entered school nursing. Freedom in the summers enabled her to pursue her creative writing endeavors. A love of genealogy, history and fantasy were a combined influence on her first novel, THE PIPES ARE CALLING.

Inspiration

Murphy's passion for her Irish heritage permeates her writing. Raised in the Pennsylvania coal region, she extensively researched the Molly Maguires, a group of Irish immigrants who battled for workers rights in the coal mining industry of the mid-1800's. Her research led her to write THE PIPES ARE CALLING, which uses the story of the Mollies and a real murder that occurred in 1875, the Wiggans Patch Massacre, as a backdrop. Murphy believes that the men branded as Mollies should be fully exonerated. She is currently petitioning the state to historically mark the site of the O’Donnell House where the Wiggans Patch Massacre occurred. The house itself was demolished on November 17th, 2006 – the same day her novel’s press release came out. Currently, she is compiling a volume of Irish poetry, IRISH ROADS, and finishing her second novel entitled WWWIRISHHEARTS.COM, based on the legend of Finn McCool's son, Ossian, and his band of men, the Fianna. Journey to Murphy’s Irish themed website at http://www.freewebs.com/lorettamurphy for more about the author, the history behind her novel and a sampling of her poetry and short stories.