Reader’s Favorite Review by K.C. Finn
An Irish Lullaby by Louis Michael Manzo
Reviewed By: K.C. Finn
Review Rating: 5 Stars
An Irish Lullaby is a work of Christian fiction by author Louis Michael Manzo. Billed as an uplifting life story which depicts a journey to fulfillment, our heroic duo is a priest and a working mother. Father O’Connor is an aged priest verging on the brink of a reluctant retirement from Saint Aloysius Catholic Parish, whilst his parishioner, Aubrey Fitzgibbons, has many complications to add to her faith. She believes in contraception and abortion, so when she aids a teenage girl with the latter, the good Father gets involved in a last-ditch attempt to do something before he’s wheeled off to the home for old priests. In the middle of this madness, Aubrey herself becomes pregnant, but the condition of the fetus threatens her own life. Questions of right and wrong plague Aubrey and O’Connor as they navigate to a startling solution. Read more
Reader’s Favorite Review by Cheryl E. Rodriguez
An Irish Lullaby by Louis Michael Manzo
Reviewed By: Cheryl E. Rodriguez
Review Rating: 5 Stars
An Irish Lullaby by Louis Michael Manzo inspires belief in the miraculous. Father Sean O’Connor is semi-retired, and at 75 years old he is back at his beloved Saint Aloysius Parish. Reflecting, holding his Medal of Honor medallion, he realizes time has somehow escaped him. Father O’Connor has seen God’s miracles in countless lives and situations throughout his priesthood. His exploits are cherished and unforgettable – “O’Connor’s Miracles.” When a devout young Catholic girl, Angela Sanchez, has an abortion, the ripple effect is unimaginable. Father O’Connor and members of his parish become entangled in the controversy. Angela’s decision touches lives in unforeseen ways, especially for Aubrey Fitzgibbon, the President of the Board of the local family planning center. Aubrey holds a dark secret. There are no coincidences with God. “Sometimes God chooses to put us in the most extraordinary places at the most unordinary times” to perform the impossible. Read more
Reader’s Favorite Review by Devine Vape
An Irish Lullaby by Louis Michael Manzo
Reviewed By: Divine Zape
Review Rating: 5 Stars
An Irish Lullaby by Louis Michael Manzo is a bold and powerful novel that is as emotionally charged as it is mind-boggling. A tale that involves an aging priest, a woman torn between loyalties, and a moral question of the century. Aubrey Fitzgibbons is wife to the Church Deacon, but she also serves as head of the local Planned Parenthood agency. When she assists a teenager in a midterm abortion, she is torn between what the Church teaches her and her commitment to serving her community. But everything changes when she becomes pregnant and is diagnosed with a medical condition that threatens her own life. Everyone expects her to abort the baby, including her husband and doctors, but she is about to travel a path that will surprise everyone. Follow her on this perilous journey as she makes a very important and life-changing decision, and she learns to see her truth most intimately. Read more
Official OnlineBookClub.org review
An Irish Lullaby By Louis Michael Manzo
4 out of 4 stars
By S. Bradley > 07 April 2018
An Irish Lullaby by Louis Michael Manzo is a fiction novel that explores the concepts of faith, forgiveness, and personal growth. Although the narrative is presented in third-person omniscient, we primarily follow Father Sean O’Connor, an elderly priest at St. Aloysius Parish in Jersey City, NJ. Nearing the end of his long tenure in the priesthood, Father O’Connor finds himself looking to rekindle his glory days when he felt more needed and more significant in the world.
The book opens with a teenage girl undergoing a late-term abortion at a family planning clinic. Aubrey Fitzgibbon, President of the Board at the clinic, has become a personal support system to the girl and agrees to be present for the procedure. Aubrey’s career, along with her role in the teen’s abortion, contravenes Catholic canon law. The plot thickens as Aubrey-a parishioner of St. Aloysius, with important connections to the church-has an unwanted pregnancy of her own to deal with. Read more
Political Insider
Agustin C. Torres
Former Assemblyman Louis Manzo, a Jersey City native, has a new book out. If you recall, his first was about his old nemesis, former Gov. Chris Christie called “Ruthless Ambition.” It was not a flattering portrayal.
Manzo got caught up in the Operation Bid Rig III FBI sting. From the start I called the Manzo indictment hard to believe and predicted he’d beat it. Eventually a federal judge dropped all the charges. Manzo lost his shirt and condo paying for his defense and had to move out of his hometown to the Jersey shore where he wrote his angry but well-researched tome.
His second novel is a fictional tale involving his old St. Al’s parish with some so-called familiar neighborhood characters. The title is “An Irish Lullaby” with a publishing date of late summer or early fall. It seems he feels he found his calling because he’s already working on his third book. Read more
Reader’s Favorite Review by Samantha Dewitt
An Irish Lullaby by Louis Michael Manzo
Reviewed By: Samantha Dewitt [Rivera] Review Rating: 4 Stars
Aubrey is determined to do what’s best for those around her and when a young teenage girl comes to her, pregnant and frightened, Aubrey agrees to help her obtain the abortion that she wants, no matter what the church may believe. But Aubrey has a number of additional problems to worry about, including her own pregnancy and the distance her decision has created between her and her faith. But it’s not just about her. It’s also about Father O’Connor, who is facing leaving the church for the first time in a long while. The church and his church family are all he has, but finding a way to keep himself a part of it all is proving more difficult than he might have thought in An Irish Lullaby by Louis Michael Manzo. Read more