Christine Gallgher Kearney’s family helps inspire her debut novel

By Max Bowen

Christine Gallagher Kearney’s recently-released novel “What We Leave Behind” (She Writes Press) is a WWII-era narrative of love, loss, and one woman’s search for identity after being separated from her homeland and husband. Inspired in part by the true story of Christine's maternal grandmother who was brought to the US as a war bride after WWII, the book showcases the failings of the American dream in contrast with the limitless power of hope and determination.


I read that the book is inspired in part by your maternal grandmother, who was brought to the US as a war bride after WWII. How did this influence the story and what portion would you say is fiction?
I had to let go of the real Ursula to write the fictional Ursula. In fact, as the character evolved on the page, it was harder and harder to adhere to every aspect of her life. That said, many of the major events in the novel are based on Ursula's actual experiences such as her arrival in America, getting polio and recovering, making a best friend in the hospital, losing her husband and falling in love again, and giving up her child for adoption.

What was a “war bride?”
During World War II and immediately after, American soldiers who had fallen in love with women in countries like the U.K., Australia, France and even Germany, invited their fiancées to come back to the U.S. with them. In some cases, soldiers married their fiancées before they returned to the U.S. For soldiers bringing home brides from Allied countries, there were few barriers. For German women like Ursula, who were considered ex-enemy war brides, there were special matrimonial laws that had to be followed.

How similar is your main character Ursula to your maternal grandmother?
Ursula as a character is very similar to Ursula my maternal grandmother. After my mother read the book, she said I had “really captured Ursula’s essence.” Although I had only met her a few times when I was a child, my memories of those meetings are strong. I also had letters that my mom had saved. These became very useful to capture Ursula's voice, her stubbornness and her resilience. The one thing that did not make the book was Ursula’s love of American football. But her love of crocheting and knitting are literally woven through the entire story.

Did you need to do a lot of research, either on the time period or your grandmother’s life? What did you learn?
In this type of fiction, writing and research go hand-in-hand. While I drafted, I stopped frequently to make notes about specific topics I needed to research. There are about 15-20 books I relied on regularly throughout the writing process. For the second part of the novel, I also interviewed polio survivors about their illnesses and their recovery process.

I really liked the cover. What went into planning it?
Thank you, I really love it too! Julie Metz on She Writes Press team designed the cover. Early in the design process, I received multiple cover options and this one struck me as the strongest. If you flip to the back of the book, you’ll even find a photo of Ursula that resembles the photo of the woman on the cover – a lovely coincidence!

Christine Gallagher Kearney

What was the American Dream in 1947? What would you say are its strengths and weaknesses and how are these explored in the book?
Ursula thought the American Dream was a chance to start over, to find security and economic opportunity. She creates a fantasy about what it would be like to marry an American man and move to the States with him, but when she sets foot in Minnesota, she encounters a hostile mother-in-law and a modest standard of living. In the novel, her mother warns about the possibility of “it being different” than what she imagines, but Ursula cannot see another way forward for her life and takes a huge chance on this “dream.”

I saw that this is your debut novel, but you have an extensive writing background. What new lessons did this book have for you?
Working on a project like a novel is a long-term challenge. Staying motivated to see the project through was one of the biggest obstacles, especially as I faced tough developmental edits, and looming deadlines from my publisher.

Is another book in your future?
I’m excited to be about halfway finished with book number two already. It's a completely different topic—a story about a dead whale, grief and climate change.

What elements of the story tie into life today?
I wrote much of "What We Leave Behind" during the COVID-19 pandemic. To write about another pandemic from many years ago while going through Covid created some eerie parallels. For example, in the book while Ursula is in the hospital she reads about how the polio vaccine is being tested on monkeys. Compared with modern science, it took years for the polio vaccine to be developed and safely administered.