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September 10, 2024 • 21 mins
Author Lorraine Geraci set an intriguing fictional story based on her own real-life experience with recently finding her own birth mother in her new book: Girls from Brooklyn.
In the story, Ms. Geraci takes the reader to secret hidden magical realms, the lives of three unique women from the sixties into today, their lifelong connection and their showing that family is not always blood. Readers will the heroic actions of family and friendships that shaped their journeys. Mystery, adventure, magical powers and the unknowing demon that lies in the magical realm of Brooklyn is a rather enjoyable story on several levels both in the real world and fantasy realm.

Lorraine has been a Learning and Professional Development leader and speaker in the Mortgage and Utility Industries over the last 30 years.Her professional experience has also allowed her to instruct and present to over 15,000 Real Estate and Mortgage professionals nationwide. The art of verbal expression and writing was always part of what she focused on.As a certified professional coach, and novice writer for many years prior, Lorraine finally wrote and published her first book Living A RockStar Life in 2014. This self-help focused book provided advice on getting out of your own way to have the life you want and deserve. She incorporated this thought process into her personal and professional life over the years in Corporate America. In 2023, some major unforeseen life events provided her with the direction and passion to continue her writing crusade and share important stories and lessons.


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Episode Transcript

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Speaker 1 (00:04):
Welcome to Book Spectrum. I'm your host, Chris Gordany. This
is where I talk with not only seasoned writers, but
those of various occupations across the spectrum. With me is
someone who's an entrepreneur. I'm a call disclosure. I've worked
with her in the past. She's a published author and
known as Coach Lorraine. The book, however, is different from

(00:24):
when we talked with her about before. She taught us
how to live the rock star lifestyle in the past,
but this is something different. It's a story. It's called
The Girls from Brooklyn. It's based partially on her own
life and experiences in Brooklyn and of course in life itself.
It's a rather cool story and we have the author,

(00:44):
Lorraine Jerracy, on with us now. Welcome to Book Spectrum. Lorraine.

Speaker 2 (00:49):
Thank you, Chris. It's a pleasure to be here.

Speaker 1 (00:52):
It's great to have you on, Lorraine. Let's jump right
into the story. It's centers around three girls who grew
up together in Brooklyn. You look back to the or
at least they look back to the nineteen sixties, which
is an interesting time. We're going to get into that,
but the three main characters have let's just say, very
different backgrounds, yet they form a real connection together, almost

(01:16):
like they knew each other in the past.

Speaker 2 (01:19):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:19):
So basically, again, it is a fiction novel based on
a true story, predominantly about the fact that I found
my birth mother at the age of fifty five and
when I did and learned all about what happened back
in the sixties when I was born, and a little

(01:40):
bit more information about who my biological parents were and
their backgrounds and the intertwined secrets and lack of communication.
It was so bizarre and and interesting that I thought
it would really be a great opportunity to write about it.
And I got to know my birth mother very well,

(02:01):
and it was such a great honor to be able
to kind of showcase some of the challenges and experiences
she went through back in the sixties being a young woman,
as well as what I went through growing up, you know,
from the sixties on having my own daughter and granddaughter,
And it was exciting to kind of merge the truisms

(02:23):
of different things I went through and also kind of
tied into what she went through.

Speaker 2 (02:28):
At the time.

Speaker 3 (02:29):
We didn't even know each other, right, and all of
the things that happened along the way. So I really
hope people recognize the fact that not only are there
some truisms in there, but it's also a great opportunity
for people to look at the magical aspect of things.
Magic and fantasy are a passion of mine, and I

(02:49):
took that and kind of intertwined it Chris into this,
you know storyline that kind of embodies.

Speaker 2 (02:57):
Not only family blood.

Speaker 3 (03:00):
But it also magic and the strength of within to
be whoever you want to be. That's kind of some foreshadowy, right,
long winded, but you get the story.

Speaker 1 (03:12):
It works, and you pretty much went through a nice
spectrum of what's going on in the book. So let's
break that apart. First, I want to get to this Jenny,
the character who was looking for her birth parents and
who was adopted, was the one who was most based
on you. Correct, Before we get to Jenny and you
and the perils between the two of you, what was

(03:33):
it like being your biological mother after all these years?

Speaker 3 (03:37):
And it was pretty surreal. You know, it could have
gone two ways. You know, it either went well or
it would not go well at all. So I had
the opportunity to communicate Trek quite a bit with her
after finding her to, you know, get an understanding lay
of the land, understand where she came from, and the
comfort level she had having communication. Very very open arm right,

(04:00):
she welcomed me with open arms. I got to see
I've gotten to see her in person twice. She lives
out in Las Vegas, so I actually have another trip
coming up to see her again and her friends and
other people out there. And I've also met other family
members through her too, on her side of the family
that I just wound up living near one of them

(04:21):
here in Florida during half the year, and I've got
to see them and some of their kids. It's just
it exceeded my expectations, honestly.

Speaker 1 (04:30):
Well, that's great because a lot of people don't have
that same experience meeting their birth parents. Some don't even
get to meet them at all. I'm sure you were
braced for some disappointment or maybe some worry about this.
Was the connection instant? Was there something where you were
very happy to see each other or did it kind
of take a little bit of work.

Speaker 2 (04:47):
No, I think the connection was pretty instant.

Speaker 3 (04:49):
I you know, it was just very surreal to kind
of see her for the first time, because funny enough,
I come to find out I have a lot of
her personality and and traits, but I look more like
birth dad. Right after looking into that mystery and getting
photos and things of that nature. There's a lot to
be said about all of that because he never knew

(05:12):
about me, and he passed away a few years ago,
so it was a lot more to it that I
kind of embellished a little bit in the book. And
that's where kind of a fictional stance kind of you'll
see little offshoots or read little offshoots about, you know,
fictional stances from the actual real life events that happened.
And obviously I did find some information about him and

(05:35):
he's a very big part of the book as well.

Speaker 2 (05:37):
So really cool stuff.

Speaker 1 (05:40):
Well, let's get to Jenny, the character that who you're
based on. Pretty much, Jenny's one of the three main
lady characters, and we'll talk about that. By the way,
with me is Loraine Jeraci. She's the author of The
Girls from Brooklyn. We're talking about the book. Lorraine. Jenny,
like you, was adopted, but at her younger age when
she was growing up in the sixties, and she started

(06:03):
feeling that she was curious. She felt like there was
something off a little bit, but then she felt that
she may have had a connection with somebody else. And
this is where this is what I'm getting, at least
from what I've seen in the book. You can always
correct me if I'm wrong, because sometimes I interpret things
the wrong way. That's just me. However, that's what books
are for, sometimes subject to interpretation. What I'm looking at

(06:24):
is Jenny had a lot of curiosities, learned that she
was very different from her family, or at least her
adoptive family, and she had a real independent streak. What
are the parallels between you and Jenny and kind of
where do you two diverge?

Speaker 3 (06:39):
You know, it's funny because I have to say, if
I were to put a percentage on the realisms of
the book itself where Jenny is concerned to myself, I
have to say probably eighty percent.

Speaker 1 (06:54):
Eighty percent of her Lorraine, is that what it is? Right?

Speaker 3 (06:57):
Yeah, and others I may have off shooted in Bellis
changed up a little bit of things of that nature.
But yeah, I think the difference that I felt was
not as clarifying and magical as what Jenny felt in
the book.

Speaker 2 (07:14):
Right. So that's where some of the fictionality came in
where Jenny started realizing, even at a young age, that
she had some abilities that most other people didn't have.

Speaker 3 (07:25):
You know, minds be very clarifyant, and you know, in
some cases feel like she had some handle on moving
things with her mind, things like that. So there's a
lot of that developing as she grew up. So not
only does she feel a little bit different from the
personalities of the family that she grown to love as

(07:48):
her own, you know, from the time she was a baby,
but you know, now add those magical odd things coming
into play, and now she really feels different.

Speaker 2 (08:00):
Right.

Speaker 3 (08:00):
It kind of pushes it to the side, and you know,
has a normal life a little bit, and then realizes
that not only does she have it, but now her
daughter has abilities to So she sees something very interesting
in correlating it between DNA and lineage.

Speaker 2 (08:19):
Right.

Speaker 3 (08:20):
So now she becomes even more curious as she gets
older about birth family and her parents, because she never
really cared.

Speaker 2 (08:28):
When she was younger.

Speaker 3 (08:28):
She was fine, she was happy, you know what I mean,
she knew she was adopted.

Speaker 2 (08:32):
We'll find it good.

Speaker 3 (08:33):
But as time goes on and things change and you
get older, you become more curious.

Speaker 2 (08:39):
And you want to find ways to really you know
what I mean.

Speaker 3 (08:42):
Let me find out some answers to some questions now,
so that fast forwards into time and how she really
recognizes the importance of her major abilities and how it
intertwines with her future birth family that she finds.

Speaker 1 (08:59):
Wait, mine, since eighty percent Lorena in there, there might
be that chance. So I'm going to ask the question,
do you have any of those cool mental powers like telekinesis.

Speaker 2 (09:07):
Or you know? I wish I did, But I will
tell you this.

Speaker 3 (09:12):
One of the things I have realized, especially over the
last ten years, is the ability to be able to
use manifestation and positive thinking and focus on energies and
bringing things to you that you either want or think

(09:33):
about or find important. And far from perfect at it,
but I have noticed that in a lot of areas,
things just kind of happen because I wanted them to,
and I believe that they would. So if you want
to look at that as kind of magical, right, being
able to divert energy into a direction to have things

(09:55):
happen the way you want, right, that's important and I
think many peopleeople have used different ways of you know,
whether it's law of attraction, or you know, energy in general,
or scientific methods and things of that nature. To I
think we have so many more capabilities and we know
what to do with and I do think that deep
within most of us there's the ability to do things

(10:18):
that we have no idea we can.

Speaker 2 (10:20):
I haven't happened to that yet, but I.

Speaker 3 (10:22):
Would like to think that there is some truism to
a lot of these odd things that happen to people.

Speaker 1 (10:28):
Right, So when you do kind of control your future
of what's happening around you, do you have to twitch
your nose like Samantha?

Speaker 3 (10:35):
You know, I wish it would. You have to be
in the mental space to believe that. You can't just
say things out loud and be like, yeah, I'm really happy.

Speaker 1 (10:46):
I was kind of hoping for the telekinesis though, this
way to make a video interview and have you move
things move right.

Speaker 2 (10:53):
Yeah, I was stapped up by NASA. If that happened, right,
think about it. The government would be at.

Speaker 3 (10:59):
My door or step if that were the case, right, So,
I don't know if I'd be very open to share
that even if it really did happen in real life.

Speaker 1 (11:07):
That's a good point. Yeah, you'd be taken in for tests.
There we go, or.

Speaker 3 (11:11):
Exactly, I'll feel like you know, listen, there's been a
lot of movies created on people that had you you
you know, look at the ball in every single one
of them.

Speaker 2 (11:20):
A lot of the times they.

Speaker 3 (11:22):
Are pigeonholed right or or brought to labs or you know.

Speaker 1 (11:27):
There's not me, they had to be studied, So there
we go.

Speaker 3 (11:32):
Exactly, look at all that, even some crazy shows on television.
I'll have all this so you know, it's even look
at it. You know, even if you're a Harry Potter
fan looking at the Muggles the way the Muggles were
looked at.

Speaker 2 (11:45):
Yeah, you don't have any powers too, you know, you're
not a pure blood. And there's always some for lack
of better.

Speaker 3 (11:53):
Words, bullying or you know, you know, really having the
ability to kind of look at people differently. But it
happens to everything. Diversity goes way beyond what people think,
and it's just a matter of kind of you know,
how do you deal with people if that were to happen,
that was really true. I'm going off on a crazy tangent,

(12:14):
but if that was really true, we'd be in a
very different place, wouldn't way.

Speaker 1 (12:18):
So that's a good point. But the character Jenny does
have some mystic powers and it does come into play
with the rest of the story. And I don't want
you to give up a lot on this one. I
do want to talk about the other two girls, the
connection that the three of them have. It's funny how
when some people meet, some instantly connect as if they
well knew each other before in past lives, or perhaps

(12:41):
even seem to find a way to connect in each life,
even if they just drawn to each other, or they
happen to be in close proximity every proximity every time.
It's just strange how some people have an instant connection.
And your three girls you seem to have had that.

Speaker 3 (12:55):
Yeah, well, the three main characters is really is Annie
and Michael, and you know the Jenny plays, you know,
the daughter myself, Annie is birth mother and Michael's birth father. However,
Casey in the book represents my daughter, and so the
three women, you know what I mean, in the book,

(13:18):
as time goes on throughout it. Later in the book,
you'll find how they come together to kind of become heroes, right,
And so that kind of is placed trigger, but as
far as the three main characters, it focuses on more
of like telling the story. Jenny tells her story, Annie
tells her story, and Michael tells his story. And then

(13:39):
a lot of the book, you know, from i'd say
sixty percent into the end, is narrated by a narrator
telling the story about what happens when everybody gets together.

Speaker 1 (13:52):
Lorraine, you chose the sixties. Now, I understand the character
is based on you. You could have picked a timetime
around our era, but you didn't. Even though, as I said,
the character is based on you, Why did you choose
the sixties rather than let's say, the cooler period when
we grew up.

Speaker 3 (14:10):
Well, the sixties were really to showcase when I was born.
That's when Annie, who plays the birth mother in the book,
it was from her perspective. You know, she was a
young woman in the sixties and going back there was
to showcase her perspective on what she was going through

(14:33):
in the times during then, in which she you know,
had her own dealings in her life and then met
the birth father, you know, through all of those different
life events that happened to her in Brooklyn. So that's
why we went back there, and then also that's where
Michael was, you know, the birth father, and then you know,

(14:54):
into the seventies and eighties, and we kind of inadvertently
jigjag between the sixties to really to twenty twenty three
throughout the entire book.

Speaker 1 (15:06):
To look at it that way, you did say that, again,
this is based loosely on your life, and there is
a nice element of mysticism, magic and adventure. You've always
said you had a passion for that. Now you did
say that in the beginning of the interview, So let's
explore that a little more. What kind of when you

(15:26):
were a young lady, a young girl reading books like this,
what got you in that kind of genre?

Speaker 3 (15:34):
You know, I was always drawn to anything that had
to do with fantasy, magic, superpowers, or you know, things
that took place in the medieval error. You know, it
was always, yeah, it was always. It would always fascinate me.
I would never want to live during those times, especially
knowing what we know now, right, but it was Yeah,

(15:56):
it was pretty cool to see all the different things,
all the Merlin movies that were out there or shows
that emulated during that time period.

Speaker 2 (16:05):
You know, I've watched things on television.

Speaker 3 (16:08):
So it was always you know, and then we get
into the whole Harry Potter series. I'm just one of
those really big nerds when it comes to the Harry
Potter books and movies, and so are my family member,
especially my daughter. And of course my granddaughter now has
no really choice other than to wear Hogwarts, as she

(16:28):
did pick group.

Speaker 2 (16:30):
At nine and three quarters months old.

Speaker 3 (16:33):
She picked her own house and she is a huffle Puff.

Speaker 2 (16:39):
So she's not a Gryffindor like her grandma. But that's okay.

Speaker 1 (16:43):
You're gonna have to help me out a little bit
on this, and I gotta be honest with you, lorn
this is a book show. I have never read or
seen a Harry Potter book.

Speaker 2 (16:51):
Oh my gosh.

Speaker 1 (16:52):
You know the only thing I know about the Harry
Potter franchises, well, I know two things. Two things. One,
Harry is in no way related to Colonel Sherman t
Power Potter, that is true, okay. The second thing I
know is ten Pole Tutors lead singer Edward Tudor. Pole
was in an episode, was in one of the movies,

(17:13):
but his part was cut out for the actual airing
of the movie. But it's still in the DVD ed
Tutor ed Or Edward Tudor Pole. That's his name, Ed
Tudor Pol. Wow. The only things I know about that franchise.

Speaker 3 (17:26):
Interesting well said, if you have it, you know a
taste for magic. And the books and the movies were
very well done to tell a story. The story was
really pretty neat how they went back and forth. I
haven't enjoyed it. A lot of other people do. And
you know the author that wrote it, I mean kudos
to her for you know all she did. And even

(17:48):
not too far away in Universal Studios in Orlando, they
have the Harry Potter themed two parks right and in
two different parts of Universal and Islands and Adventure, so
well done and spot on you feel like you're actually
in the movie. It was just it's just incredible what
they've done with the entire storyline.

Speaker 1 (18:08):
Well, A big, big fan of JK. Rowling for a
lot of reasons, but the main one is this woman
just you know, she had nothing for a while. She was, yeah,
she was unwelfare, trying to take care of her kids,
and she just thinks of something, writes about it, gets
a rear end out there and pushes this and somebody
picks up on it, and now this whole idea she had,
the world she created, has become a huge franchise and

(18:30):
it's probably going to last for another generation or.

Speaker 2 (18:32):
Two, oh, I would think.

Speaker 3 (18:33):
So it just I don't see it's slowing down anytime soon.
So it really helped kind of like, you know, germanate
the thought process of the fact that I've you know,
loved all all of that, but kind of taking it
more into a less wandy bling, you know, magician type,

(18:54):
to more of a utilization of the mind and energy
and way to manipulate and do things that maybe we
really can.

Speaker 2 (19:05):
Do, we just don't know how, you know.

Speaker 3 (19:07):
So yeah, it hopefully the message comes across in that aspect,
because I really find that we have a lot more
magic within us to get things done and accomplished that
we give ourselves credit for. I think there's the metaphor
that's really aligned there. And the other message of the book,
and I even say it at the end, is that

(19:29):
family is not always determined by blood.

Speaker 1 (19:32):
No, that's true too, and a lot of people don't
realize the family can be It can be anybody. Sometimes
it's an adoptive family. Sometimes you grow up and you
maybe don't have all your family left, but we have
neighbors that become your family. You have a lot of people,
and family comes in different in different ways, you see,
like your blood family and you have other families. That's

(19:53):
kind of nice, exactly.

Speaker 2 (19:55):
So yeah, so that's really it. But I would definitely
encourage anybody interested.

Speaker 3 (20:00):
As a matter of fact, it's on Amazon, both hard
and softcover and E version, and I am halfway done,
Chris with recording it. I'm marrying myself and it will
be available on audible before the end of the year.

Speaker 1 (20:17):
Oh that's fantastic. So we're going to have We're gonna
have the actual book on audiobook with you the author
doing the voiceover. Now, that is fantastic. That's gonna be awesome.
Where can people who are listening right now find out
more about the Girls from Brooklyn?

Speaker 3 (20:34):
They can go right to Amazon. It's available on there
to look into and purchase. I also have access to
that and the other books that I have written, as
well as coaching and consulting services at cpclarine dot com,
and I have my own website, so the books will
also be ordered.

Speaker 2 (20:54):
Through that as well.

Speaker 3 (20:55):
So yeah, take a look around and love to help
either any individual groups or companies that are looking to
really help expand or change the mindset of their teams
or employees as well to really even be more productive.
And sometimes storytelling is a big way to get girls accomplished.

Speaker 1 (21:17):
Absolutely, and thank you again for being with us here
on book Spectrum. Once again. That website for you over
the overall Lorraine Jerracy website.

Speaker 2 (21:27):
Is CPC Loarine dot com.

Speaker 1 (21:30):
I like that, CPC Loraine dot com. Again, I'm Chris Gordeny.
You can find the book on Amazon. It's again called
The Girls from Brooklyn. And again thank you all for listening.
I'm Chris Gordeny. This is Book Spectrum and keep those
pages turning.
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