A June, 2026 Anniversary of Gratitude

Two years ago, in June, 2024, I published my first book, The Peter Robinson Experiment. At that time, I had no idea how it would lead to so many new, interesting, meaningful, and enjoyable experiences.

There is so much to be grateful for. In particular, a great deal of gratitude is owed to my great-great grandparents, Margaret and Patrick Heffernan, and to every person who travelled from Ireland to Canada in the summer of 1825 under extremely difficult conditions to begin our lineage in a new country.

For me, the list below is one of gratitude and, hopefully, it will also serve readers by providing information and generate questions/direction for their own research. I will appreciate receiving your responses/questions.

-Setting up this P.R.E. website has introduced me to people from around the world.

-Meeting with book store owners in the Peterborough, ON area — shout out to Happenstance in Lakefield and Indigo in Peterborough — revealed a welcoming, supportive network for a writer's work.

-In March, 2025, I was given the opportunity to do a book talk for the Asphodel-Norwood Historical Society in Onrario. It felt so gratifying to reconnect with people - even a high school teacher - who I had not seen for many years and to share local history. That month, I also presented a book talk for the Irish Genealogy Group in Ottawa.

-While in Ottawa, I met John McQuarrie who, later that year, published a beautiful photography book, Peterborough, Spirit of Place which includes an article that I wrote about my ancestors, the Heffernans, for an Irish program called Ireland Reaching Out.

-The summer of 2025 was busy. The Peterborough Irish Club planned a series of celebratory and commemorative events for the 200th anniversary of the 1825 Peter Robinson Irish emigration to the area. I spent a week sharing display space with other writers. We greeted local visitors, as well as newcomers from afar, who were interested in learning the history and who were searching for their family connections. It was surprising how much information I could provide people based upon their family names. It was a revelation to realize how much I had 'soaked up' from listening to my parents' conversations, while growing up.

-In September, 2025 , I travelled to Ireland with two of my brothers and participated in a week of fantastic Homecoming events planned by the Ballyhoura Development Committee. One highlight for me was being interviewed in the Cobh Heritage Centre for RTE, Ireland's National Television and Radio Broadcaster, about a family photo of my great grandparents that is on display there.

For the past year, I have been writing a second book and it is in the editing stage now. No, it is not the sequel to The Peter Robinson Experiment which readers have been asking me for, but the sequel is next on my list. My second book is a crime novel! Stay tuned.

Mary English—Cooper