Wings ePress Author - Trisha FitzGerald-Petri


Romantic Suspense	General Fiction Suspense	Contemporary Romance

General Fiction

Trisha FitzGerald-Petri was born and grew up in Ireland, but moved to Germany in the early eighties. She studied Graphic Design and Visual Communications at the National College of Art and Design in Dublin and later turned to creative writing. Her novels are “Peggy Does a Runner” which was re-released as “Making Tracks” (EPPIE finalist 2003 for the Best Single Title/Mainstream Novel), “Casting Off” and “Over The Wall” (Golden Wings Award and EPPIE finalist 2009). Trisha is an active member of The Frankfurt Writers’ Group and three of her short stories—“Hide and Seek”, “Red Shoes” and “Memory Lane Madness”—are included in the group’s anthology “A Place Between Worlds, which has been published by Fairmount Publishing, Germany.

Casting Off is a true nautical adventure. I could feel Meg’s dawning horror, her sense of helplessness at grappling with unfamiliar equipment, as well as her stubborn determination to get out of this alive. I treasured the fact that, unlike in most romances, her motive was not track down a man, but to find herself. The sea leaves a sailor precious few self-delusions.

Casting Off: Ms. FitzGerald-Petri has written a compelling novel, by turns humorous, frightening, and touching as Meg and Connor find themselves-and each other. I’ll warn you now, you’ll wipe a lot of salt spray out of your hair! However, if you’re willing to learn a bit about yachts, sail along with Meg on a voyage of self-discovery. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. -- Jeanette Cottrell, Reviewer, eBook Reviews Weekly, http://www.ebook-reviews.net/, Author of At Risk of Being a Fool, http://www.jeanettecottrell.com/

Writer Trisha FitzGerald Petri has produced a festive, fast paced read on the pages of Casting Off. Megan Barry is not the characteristic fanciful heroine, she is however a very acceptable, and agreeable personality. In an eruption of witticism and style FitzGerald Petri paints a keenly focused anecdote filled with excellently masterminded settings, quick-witted plausible characters and exceptional conversation all set against an environment of sea and tumult in this rollicking tale

An excellent choice for the home pleasure reading shelf, high school library and those who like a good adventure with a bit of romance thrown in for good measure Casting Off is a delightful read for a long summery afternoon or an autumn evening spent reading and sipping cocoa. - Entertaining Read…. Recommended…. 4 stars, Reviewed by: Molly Martin, http://www.angelfire.com/ok4/mollymartin, http://www.AuthorsDen.com/mjhollingshead

“Peggy Does A Runner” (renamed Making Tracks) EPPIE Finalist 2003 - for Best Single Title/Mainstream Novel

Making Tracks: “Ms FitzGerald-Petri is definitely a talent in the humor department, and her skill in the use of dialect and description gives one a keen sense of living in a seaside village and traveling the rural byways of Ireland. For as much as Anne Tyler’s Ladder of Years is a serious portrayal of a woman who bolts from her husband and family, Making Tracks (Peggy Does a Runner) is guaranteed to have you in stitches. That is not to say this story is not without serious issues that arise while the main characters discover what is most important in life and that things aren’t always as they seem. Ms. FitzGerald-Petri’s characters leap from the written page... For anyone who's ever wanted to "do a runner" herself and experience numerous laughs to boot, I can't recommend Peggy Does a Runner highly enough! I rate it: ROFLMAO!! (In other words, absolutely hilarious!)” -- Jeanne Allen, KnowBetter.com

Making Tracks (Peggy Does A Runner): “This well-written novel is a delightful mix of true-life, fanciful imagination, realism, laughter, tears, and suspense--yes, plenty of suspense. Without ever being preachy and didactic, this novel holds the mirror to the lives lived by many, if not most, women. And that mirror shows the good as well as the less-than-lovable side of womens’ lives. I’ll go so far as to predict that no woman with a loving, but less than charismatic husband, with at-times bratty teen(s), and a life that seems all too cut and dried, will fail to find a smile and perhaps even a teardrop in these pages. There’s a little Peggy in all of us--thank goodness!” -- Jean Goldstrom, eBookFanfare

Making Tracks (Peggy Does A Runner)“...most of us who have been married a long time, and wonder if we might have made another, wiser choice, can certainly understand her (Peggy’s) motivation. FitzGerald-Petri has ingeniously wrought a tale filled with just the right balance of fright, humor and intrigue. Not to be read after dark when you are home alone. Dialog is plausible, nicely set down, presented in gritty style sure to keep the reader captivated. From the outset the reader is carried along on a wild ride filled with excitement and masque.” -- Four Stars, Molly Martin, Scribesworld

“This gem of a story slowly reels a reader in and captures the heart... Reading Peggy Does A Runner (Making Tracks) is like spending a weekend in the Irish countryside… and it’s a whole lot cheaper.” -- Rie Sheridan, Love Romances, Book Review Café rating: Four Cups--a must read!, http://www.bookreviewcafe.com/

Over The Wall -- The heartbreak of mother loss anchors this tale of interwoven Irish lives in a tender, funny and tragic rendering of the fate of two lifelong friends. From a feisty adolescence in a small boarding school to big city adulthood, the two friends explore the limits of loyalty. In this spirited, atmospheric portrayal of a quintessential Irish coming-of-age, FitzGerald-Petri pulls together the lives of friends, family, and lovers around a haunting call for a lost mother, touching the reader’s heart when the yearning is unexpectedly fulfilled. -- Reviewed by Dr. P. R. Preciado. Dr. P. R. Preciado, a member of The Frankfurt Writers’ Group, has actively participated in writers’ workshops in America and Great Britain. Furthermore, she leads creative writing courses for native and non-native speakers at the Volkshochschule in Frankfurt am Main.

Over the Wall is an enchanting story about life, love, and friendship. The story begins with the account of two unlikely friends at a boarding school – one spoiled, rich, and motherless, the other a farm girl from a close-knit family. While at school, Finnula and Lilly tackle the experience of growing up – Lilly pushing the boundaries of authority and Finnula trying to convince her not to. Lilly’s charm can take her only so far and the girls are separated. Years later, they are reunited and their friendship blossoms into adulthood and along with it work, responsibility, and love. The story is a wonderful concoction of various relationships and how some children grow up to be very different adults and others don’t change much at all. The bonds between the characters take surprising turns throughout and Trisha does a fantastic job developing the characters and making them feel like our friends, too.-- Edee Wilcox, Author (Saved Times Three), www.edee.org

Over the Wall by Trisha FitzGerald-Petri is an intelligent and timely story in which two girls from opposite sides of society become life-long friends.

You will follow Fudge Ginnane and Lilly McDermott from girlhood into womanhood, from one drama to another, sometimes laughing hilariously, other times crying. Ms. FitzGerald-Petri writes a stunning story about the struggles of everyday people. She shows money isn't always the solution, but it can often be a problem. In Over the Wall, Trisha FitzGerald-Petri writes a story about family, friendship and love. Over the Wall is a recommended read, but be sure to keep a tissue handy. I give this outstanding novel FIVE STARS. -- Jacqueline McGuyer, Author, Blood Secrets, Wings Press

Over the Wall is written in the author's familiar descriptive style, displaying Irish countryside, Dublin slums, and characters themselves with equal panache, and a wry sense of humor. For example: " The last time she’d seen him his face consisted mainly of a nose, but now the other features had caught up."

The subject of class differences crops up in the story, and is handled with deft and poignant awareness. One of my favorite characters, Skids Curry, appears late in the book as a blustering, down-to-earth businessman who shamefacedly hides a tender heart. From college professor to Irish housewife, from socialite to a delivery van driver, FitzGerald-Petri treats all her characters with understanding affection. -- Reviewed by Jeanette Cottrell, http://www.simegen.com

Over the Wall -- While the central focus of this novel is the friendship of Fudge and Lilly, and the way in which each woman searches for love, the author also takes the time to explore a non-traditional romantic attraction between two middle-aged characters, one married and one widowed. I found FitzGerald-Petri's dealing of their attraction, and the consequences that develop from it, well done.

There are some very funny parts in this novel as well, and some great minor characters. Since it is set primarily in Ireland, readers will get a terrific sense of location and local culture from reading it.

I thoroughly enjoyed this story and found it a compelling study of female friendship, romantic entanglements that creep in when you least expect them, and the ways in which people deal with the ups and downs of life. -- http://www.longandshortreviews.com

Over the Wall -- What a fantastic page-turner! It’s been ages since I read a book that so enthralled me, maybe because there's a bit of Lilly and Finnula, the two friends whose story Over the Wall focuses on, in me.

Lilly, the bragging adventurer eager to defy authority, the tough cookie with the stunning looks who, in reality, is but an injured bird, forever wounded by the loss of her mother. Fudge, the serious girl who despairs at finding love, true love, but short of finding it, becomes her friend’s most loyal ally, her life savior.

Over the Wall takes the two lifelong friends from girlhood to womanhood, thrusting us in situations that are in turns funny, often tragic. When Fudge dissuades her friend from escaping their boarding school at night; when Lilly, terrified that she might die of breast cancer just like her own mother, asks Fudge to accompany her to the doctor's; and when Lilly's out-of-wed-lock baby is born, it is Fudge once again who becomes in charge.

Over the Wall is funny, but also deeply moving. It deals with the kinds of emotions and human experiences--friendship and love for instance--that most of us have all gone through in a way or another.

Fitzgerald-Petri’s "coup de maitre" is to make these emotions so credible that they make us laugh and cry. -- Reviewed by Isabelle de Pommereau, free-lance journalist, (Christian Science Monitor, The Observer Alternatives Internationales)

There And Back: Gwen rushes headlong into Tessie's disaster-prone life, pulled into the vortex of her sister's infelicities through an unstoppable pace of suspense, exasperation and comic relief. Gwen comes to realize that "something greater, something bigger than ourselves waited out there to be discovered. Tessie had always known that, and only now could I begin to appreciate it." From an early scene reminiscent of Nabokovian pubescent sensuality to the climatic chase of a stalker-cum-savior in pursuit of mismatched lovers in pre-war Yugoslavia, Trisha FitzGerald-Petri once again casts her trademark narrative spell with panache, wit and grace. -- P. Rosana Preciado, Ph.D., Lecturer, Institute for England and America Studies, Goethe University Frankfurt

There And Back: The topics in Trisha Fitzgerald’s books revolve principally around women and what happens when “love” enters into their lives, (as in “Casting Off”) or when there’s a perceived lack of “love” (as in “Making Tracks” when Peggy breaks out of her marriage). True to her style Fitzgerald-Petri begins “There and Back” with a sensitive psychological portrait of the young Irish girl, Tessie, who is bright, precocious and adept at handling herself in the exciting game of men and sex. When Tessie goes to Yugoslavia and falls in love with a Serb pilot the plot blossoms. Fitzgerald-Petri is at her best here, handling her characters, plot, and story-line with a light, easy mastery of the language. Intrigue and suspense arise naturally from the telling of her story and make it into a page turner. -- Bonnie Barski, Master in Literature, Middleburg University, Short Story Author

There And Back: In this story one can really feel the atmosphere of the Irish Countryside. Trisha's description brings to mind the smells of the land, the food, the people's lives, all entwined as one. Travelling along the road through the villages one could actually believe they are there in spirit if not in body. And behind this quiet, peaceful land, there is the threat of danger as Tessie manages to get herself into one pickle after another.

There And Back: Trisha takes her time weaving this story together, taking the reader deeper and deeper into the intrigue she so cleverly unwinds. She deftly exposes the depth of her characters' tribulations, and emotions, while, at the same time, merging them into an environment full of intrigue and life–threatening danger... -- Elena Dorothy Bowman, Author of: The Sarah's Landing Series, The Legacy Series, Time-Rift, The Odyssey and The Imposter.

There and Back by Trisha FitzGerald-Petri is a riveting, fascinating and wild ride. Picture yourself sitting on a couch with a friend, listening to an entertaining, complex and dramatic saga. Gwen’s story, told directly to the reader is enchanting, the wit and honesty refreshing. Readers will be captivated by Tessie’s journey and find themselves rushing to the end of the story to find out what happens next. It is a story of love between sisters, a family bond that can never be broken. Trisha FitzGerald-Petri is an outstanding writer with a fresh voice and enormous creative literary skills. She has penned an outstanding novel that held my attention from the very first sentence to the last word. -- Suzanne M Hurley, Author, www.suzannemhurley.com

There And Back: In her charming Irish voice, multi-published author, Trisha FitzGerald-Petri, has produced a saucy family suspense about three Sullivan sisters who grow up in a family that sticks together, no matter what. Sisters Gwendolyn and Anna are always balancing their own lives, against trying to save their impulsive younger sister, Tessie, from her romantic misadventures. There And Back is an exciting story of international, romantic intrigue and a once in a lifetime encounter that is never quite lost from the heart. -- Conger Books Reviews, JoEllen Conger

There and Back by Trish FitzGerald-Petri is inventive, funny, painful and sexy. It is about two sisters’ adventurous relationship which is bonded through a heady mixture of love and suspense—both with a dash of international flavor. This book is in part Irish “Lolita meets Yugoslavian James Bond”. Tessie gets into a heap of trouble with life and men, but Gwen comes to the rescue, facing geographical hurdles, a political crisis, and reinventing what it means to be an older sister while confronting a storm of emotional woes of her own.

All fun aside, There and Back is not only a search for self-expression, but also self-worth—and what better way to do it than by adding a little bit of danger to shake the status quo of life. -- Kay Song, Language Consultant/Writer