New York, United States - September 11, 2026

A sweeping multigenerational story traces an Italian American family from postwar Chicago through war, abandonment, trauma, and one daughter’s search to understand the past

In The Ones Who Stayed, first-time author M. G. LoRod brings generations of family history to life in an emotional story about love, loyalty, devastating loss, and the lasting effects of experiences families often struggle to put into words.

Rooted in Chicago’s Italian American community, The Ones Who Stayed follows the Greco-Salerno family across decades, beginning with Christina Salerno, who comes to Chicago from Calabria through an arranged marriage. After the death of her first husband, Christina builds a second life with Frank Greco, creating a blended family centered around hard work, responsibility, and the family meat market. Above and around that shop, generations grow up surrounded by the familiar rhythms of family life, but tragedy gradually changes everything.

The family first endures the death of Christina’s son Samuel during military maneuvers in 1944. Five years later, Christina’s daughter Mary is attacked while returning home from her second-shift job at a toy factory. Though gravely injured, Mary manages to reach her mother’s door before dying. Her murder leaves behind two young sons, Sammy and Pasquale, known as Pat, and becomes a defining wound in the family’s history.

As the boys grow up, instability and loss continue. Eventually placed in institutional care, Sammy and Pat develop very different ways of surviving. Sammy adapts by following the rules and protecting his younger brother, while Pat becomes increasingly resistant to authority. His path eventually leads him to the Marine Corps and Vietnam, where another series of losses leaves lasting scars.

Pat survives being wounded during combat, but returning home does not mean leaving the war behind. His struggle to build a stable life eventually affects his marriage, his children, and his relationship with the wider family. Through his story, the book explores a difficult truth: surviving trauma and recovering from it are not always the same thing.

Years later, Pat’s daughter Mary begins searching for the history that shaped the father she knew. Her journey takes her back to Chicago, where she discovers newspaper reports about her grandmother’s murder, meets relatives who carry their own versions of the family’s past, visits ancestral graves, and gradually pieces together events that had remained surrounded by silence.

In 2022, another important piece arrives when Mary obtains archived institutional records belonging to her father and uncle. The documents cannot undo what happened, nor do they excuse the pain Pat later caused, but they allow her to see something she had struggled for years to understand: the vulnerable child behind the troubled man he became.

At its heart, The Ones Who Stayed is not simply a story about tragedy. It is about what families carry forward and what happens when someone finally decides to ask questions. It examines how grief can move through generations, how silence can become part of a family inheritance, and how understanding the past can bring context without erasing accountability.

LoRod’s passion for family history inspired the book. Drawing from generations of stories, memories, family traditions, and historical discoveries, she seeks to preserve the voices and experiences of people whose lives might otherwise disappear with time.

The result is a deeply personal family saga about those who endured, those who struggled, those who were lost, and the people who remained connected despite everything that tried to pull them apart.

The Ones Who Stayed ultimately asks readers to consider what it truly means to know where we come from. Sometimes family history is comforting. Sometimes it is painful. And sometimes telling the story honestly is the first step toward understanding what generations have been carrying all along.

About the Author

M. G. LoRod is a first-time author whose passion for family history inspired The Ones Who Stayed. Drawing from generations of stories, memories, and family traditions, she writes about love, loss, resilience, and the enduring bonds that connect families across decades. Her work reflects a deep appreciation for the sacrifices, struggles, and triumphs of those who came before us and a desire to preserve voices and experiences that might otherwise be forgotten. She lives in Kentucky, where she continues to collect stories and work on future projects.

The Ones Who Stayed is now available in print and digital formats for purchase online and through select retailers.

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