The Donora Story Collection

In the mill town of Donora, Pennsylvania, site of the infamous 1948 "killing smog", headstrong nurse Rose Pavlesic tends to her family and neighbors. Controlling and demanding, she's created a life that reflects everything she missed growing up as an orphan. She's even managed to keep her painful secrets hidden from her loving husband, dutiful children, and large extended family.

2019: Donora, Pennsylvania: Ninety-one-year-old Patryk Rusek hides in his attic, hoping the searchers think he’s escaped. When Lucy finally bursts in, she discovers her beloved grandfather clutching a fat, hand-drawn, antique book. In it is the story of Donora, the town that shaped America, its people, and Patryk himself. 1910: Donora, Pennsylvania: Mary Lancos lives in a home on the hill overlooking town and its mighty Monongahela River. Shy Pole Lukasz Musial arrives in Donora seeking the clear blue skies, green lawns, and better life he’d seen pictured on a postcard.

Jupiter is rising when Stanisław Franciszek Musiał is born on November 21, 1920, and the midwife predicts he will live an extraordinary life. Young Stanley’s physical talents show themselves at the Polish Falcons and on the baseball field. When the Depression hits and the mills close, tension grips every Donora household. Meanwhile, as Stan matures, he draws attention from the press, college coaches, and professional baseball scouts. Suddenly his singular dream is set against options he’d never imagined. Even with the talent to achieve his goals, doubt creeps in.

It’s Christmastime and twenty-four-year-old Socialite, Wrenly Hawthorne, is teetering between the comfort of family wealth and her risky drive for independence. Feeling estranged from friends and at odds with her parents, she is searching for “something more.” With keen interest in the freedom that the women’s right to vote should have brought, she studies the stock market and plans to attend school. She is sure she can build the life she wants, but will she risk everything to do it?