About the Author
Susan Allick Beach is a 10th generation Massachusetts native relocated to the Caribbean to teach science in 1980. In 2002 she became a librarian, then retired after 35 years with the Virgin Islands Department of Education. Since retiring she has an administrative position at Prosperity Farms Distillery located adjacent to the home she shares with her husband Eddie Beach in Frederiksted, St. Croix USVI. Mrs. Beach recently began writing about family legacies in Boston and Massachusetts. She and her husband find time for sailing, hiking, traveling, and enjoy their children and grandchildren living on the island. She has written about the New England she left, and the ancestors who dwell within the living.
My Goals
I seek to connect with genealogy enthusiasts through book stores, book clubs, libraries, and events. I hope to share my techniques for turning a dry family tree into vibrant stories based on fact and carefully researched conjectures. I hope to create a series of short stories for classroom resources for students to learn about the culture, politics, and infrastructure of Boston throughout the ages. We can look to the past to build a better future. facebook.com/SABeachVI
What others have said:
The intersection of personal genealogy and macro-historical narrative has increasingly become the subject of profound literary, sociohistorical, and scholarly inquiry. In Ghosts in my DNA: Past Lives of Boston, author, genealogy researcher, and retired librarian/science teacher Susan A. Beach—a native New Englander and long-time resident of St. Croix, Virgin Islands of the United States (VIUS)—elevates the genealogical memoir into a rigorous autoethnographic and historiographical study. --Reviewed By: Chenzira Davis Kahina, M.S., Ph.D., Director of Caribbean Cultural Center, University of the Virgin Islands
If you’ve ever contemplated the influence of your ancestry on your life, then “Ghosts” is an essential read. It richly details ancestral lives, exploring their commitments, aspirations and the philosophies they lived by in their era --Marion Rogers, Educator Cambridge Ma.
What stands out is that Beach writes with the clarity of a librarian and the curiosity of a scientist. Her popular style makes complex genealogical records feel like a propulsive mystery novel--Ted Olczak, Printed Word Reviews / BookCAMP magazine
The historical fiction is filled with purposeful lives to which Beach weaves a lively and credible story and adds dialog that fills out the characters’ personalities! Dr. Elizabeth Rezende
Susan Allick Beach is a 10th generation Massachusetts native relocated to the Caribbean to teach science in 1980. In 2002 she became a librarian, then retired after 35 years with the Virgin Islands Department of Education. Since retiring she has an administrative position at Prosperity Farms Distillery located adjacent to the home she shares with her husband Eddie Beach in Frederiksted, St. Croix USVI. Mrs. Beach recently began writing about family legacies in Boston and Massachusetts. She and her husband find time for sailing, hiking, traveling, and enjoy their children and grandchildren living on the island. She has written about the New England she left, and the ancestors who dwell within the living.
