John P. Rau Jr. was born in 1957-the same year his great uncle Jack McDonough died. But Johnny had a special relationship with Jack's wife, Mary. It's a relationship that would continue long after she died.

From his infancy, the author spent nearly every day with his aunt, whom everyone called "Mamie." He relished her stories about a long-ago Boston, which made him daydream about life in a simpler, kinder era. And Mamie's accounts of crashing through a gender barrier and rescuing a half-frozen girl mesmerized him. It wasn't until after Mamie died that John felt her nudging him to share her story and that of the Bronsdons-his family legacy-with the world. Armed with Mamie's memories, letters, and old newspaper articles and driven by her voice, has now written a historically rich memoir about his aunt Mamie and the Bronsdons, tracing his family branches back to the seventeenth century.

Bronsdon Ghosts and Mary McDonough is an incredible story about an ordinary woman who did extraordinary things that inspired the lives of those around her and left a lasting impression. You will enjoy reading about Mamie and what made her the woman she was.