Clifton Forge Public Library

AUTHOR MARY BISHOP TO BE AT
CLIFTON FORGE PUBLIC LIBRARY
Tuesday, August 21 at 7:00 p.m.

The public is cordially invited to spend an evening with author Mary Bishop. Her program will be held in the Michael Armstrong Community Room of the Clifton Forge Public Library. It will begin at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday, August 21.

Ms. Bishop is the author of “Don’t You Ever: My Mother and Her Secret Son.”

Applying for a passport as an adult, Mary Carter Bishop never expected to uncover a family secret. She had spent her entire life believing she was an only child, only to learn that she had a half-brother. Shocked by the revelation, she began to ask questions about Ronnie, the son that her mother described as a youthful “mistake” during a brief encounter with a married man.

In time, Mary located Ronnie who was working in a barbershop in Vinton. He was a nearly broken man, both physically from an as-yet undiagnosed medical condition, and mentally from years of neglect and abuse. They spent three years becoming acquainted before his death.

In her stunning memoir, Bishop deftly balances objective reporting with the intense emotional impact. She honestly shares her struggle to understand parents who had always given her their love and support while relegating Ronnie to the fringes of society.

Bishop’s mother gave permission for her well-guarded story to be made public after her death. Bishop says she thinks her mother “realized it was a powerful story.” She continues, “In her generosity to me, which was infinite, she couldn’t deny me that story.”

Discovering and writing the unvarnished truth was therapeutic for the author who says, “I believe in truth. I think truth is redemptive.”

Ms. Bishop resides in Roanoke, Virginia. A retired journalist, she is a graduate of the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism. She was on the “Philadelphia Inquirer” team that won a Pulitzer Prize for its coverage of nuclear leaks at Three Mile Island. For the “Roanoke Times & World News” she did a series on poisonings and fraud by exterminators and other pesticide users. The series won a George Polk Award and was also a Pulitzer Prize finalist.

Ms. Bishop’s program will conclude with a book signing.

Copies of her book will be available for purchase.

Admission is free.

The Friends of the Library will provide light refreshments.

The Clifton Forge Public Library is located at 535 Church Street.

For information on any library program, call 863-2519.