With the release of Brendan Rielly’s first novel, “An Unbeaten Man,” three generations of Westbrook’s Rielly family are now published authors.
To celebrate the occasion, Brendan Rielly, a lawyer and longtime Westbrook city councilor, has organized a book release event, which will also highlight other Westbrook authors.
The Westbrook authors’ night, at the Westbrook Community Center on Saturday, Nov. 28 from 4-6 p.m., will boast roughly a dozen authors, including Brenda Buchanan, Mike Sanphy, Steve Webster, Ray Richardson, Kim Fernald Ramsey, the three Rielly authors, Holly Hautula, author and widow of horror writer Rick Hautala, and more. All authors will be selling books at the event. Rielly said the event will showcase the variety of genres and styles offered by Westbrook authors.
“I wanted it to be about more than just me,” Rielly said this week about the event. “There are so many good authors in Westbrook, and that’s a story that’s never really told.”
The release of Brendan Reilly’s book, and the launch of an accompanying website, brings together his son and father as a trio of writers. Son Morgan has written a book profiling a number of Maine World War II veterans, and father Edward is the author of numerous biographies, poetry collections and more – the inspiration for Brendan and Morgan, who grew up surrounded by books.
On Nov. 1, Brendan Rielly’s book was officially released by Down East Books, the first in a planned series of international thrillers following microbiologist Michael McKeon. In the first book, McKeon creates a microbe that can clean oil spills, but is then used by a terrorist organization to destroy oil reserves in Saudi Arabia and Russia.
Rielly said he finished the novel more than two years ago, and is already working on a follow-up, as well as another project. He said he has always been a fan of thrillers – and his required a bit of research. Rielly consulted with four college professors about the science associated with his concept, and though fictional, “to make sure that the science was plausible.”
Morgan Rielly just barely beat his father onto the page last year when he published a book called “Neighborhood Heroes: Life Lessons from Maine’s Greatest Generation,” which features profiles of a number of Maine World War II veterans. When it was released, Morgan Rielly was only 17. He is studying at Bowdoin College, and working on a book telling the stories of teenage immigrants living in Maine.
Edward Rielly has nearly 30 publications to his name. A longtime professor of writing, he has written biographies, poetry collections, children’s books, and more recently, a memoir. He has a doctorate in English from the University of Notre Dame, and directs the Writing and Publishing program at Saint Joseph’s College in Standish.
Both Brendan and Morgan said they were heavily influenced by Edward.
“I was raised in an environment surrounded by books,” Brendan Rielly said, adding that he grew up with an interest in writing, which expanded to both non-fiction and fiction.
While in college at Bowdoin, Brendan Rielly wrote for the Times Record, the American Journal and the Bowdoin Orient. At Notre Dame, where he attended law school, he studied advanced fiction writing.
“For me, I got interested in oral histories listening to my grandfather recount stories about growing up on a farm in the midwest,” Morgan Rielly said.
Edward just recently published a memoir, “Bread Pudding and Other Memories: A Boyhood on the Farm,” about growing up on a dairy farm in Wisconsin.
Edward Rielly said Wednesday that he’s been writing “as long as I can remember,” particularly poetry. He said son Brendan and daughter Brigid grew up writing.
“They saw me doing a lot of writing, and gradually getting more and more published,” he said. “I’m certainly thrilled that both Brendan and Morgan have had books published.”
He said he’s currently working on getting his first novel published.
When asked about his dad’s new book, Morgan Rielly said he read through some of the manuscript before going to press, but admitted he hadn’t read the entire novel yet. He plans to read the book following midterms at Bowdoin.
“I honestly can’t wait to start reading it,” he said.
Three generations of Westbrook’s Rielly family are now published authors. From left, Morgan Rielly, Edward Rielly and Brendan Rielly. Courtesy photo
Brendan Rielly’s novel, “An Unbeaten Man,” is the first in a planned series of thrillers following Bowdoin microbiology professor Michael McKeon. Courtesy photo
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