Marian O'Shea Wernicke

Born in St. Louis, Missouri, Marian O'Shea Wernicke was a teacher there as well as in Lima, Peru, Madrid, Spain, and at Pensacola State College, where she was a professor of English for 25 years. She was married to Michael Wernicke for 46 years, until his death in 2022. Marian has three children, Kristin, married to Max Benitez, Tim, married to Sarah Wernicke, and John. She also has two grandsons, August Michael Benitez and Riley Michael Wernicke. She has published an anthology of fiction and non-fiction with Herta Feely called Confessions: Fact or Fiction, as well as a memoir about her father, Tom O'Shea: A 20th Century Man. Her first novel, Toward That Which Is Beautiful, was published in September 2020, by She Writes Press. It's the story of a runaway nun who has been working in the high plain of Peru called the Altiplano in the early 60's. Why would she leave one day without telling anyone where she is going? Look for this exciting, moving account of her journey, both external as she meets people along the way, and internal as she discovers who she really is. Her second novel, Out of Ireland, was published by She Writes Press on April 25, 2023. Set in Bantry, Ireland, in the late 1860s, this novel was inspired by the life of her Irish great-grandmother. The two main characters, Eileen O'Donovan and her brother Michael make the heart-wrenching decision to emigrate to the United States, hoping to find a better life. Best-selling author Stacey Swann, calls the novel "a love-letter to the strength of women who came before us, full of beauty, pain--and most of all--perseverance."