Scranton history inspires novel of heartache and hope
Alex Gardner
For most, family tales remain relegated to reunions and the Thanksgiving dinner table. But for one first-time author and high school English teacher from Scranton, a sorrowful story recounted countless times by older relatives became the inspiration and foundation for a new, classic American novel.
“Sing in the Morning, Cry at Night” by Barbara Taylor is a story about a working-class family from Scranton circa 1900 after tragedy befalls them. The paperback book (320 pages, Kaylie Jones Books) is based loosely around the real story of Taylor’s great-aunt Pearl, who perished as a child from severe burns after playing with sparklers on July 4, the day of her baptism. But it is fictional and spotlights the young Morgan family’s devastating loss and attempts to carry on in the small mining town …