Alumna Author Returns to Mercy High School

On April 14, 2011, as part of Mercy High School’s celebration of National Library Week, author Margaret Cahill returned to her alma mater to share the story of her writing experiences.  Ms. Cahill, a member of Mercy’s first graduating class, published the novel Five Star Fraud in 2010.

Patricia Boothroyd, Library Media Specialist, welcomes alumna author Margaret Cahill ’67 back to Mercy High School.

During her visit to Mercy, Ms. Cahill met with English and Journalism classes and read excerpts from her book, which focuses on a whistle blower who faces a moral dilemma in his business career.  She discussed her journey to becoming a published author, having been a teacher of writing and journalism and a social worker earlier in her career.  Her writing draws on different life experiences, she explained, “and these become part of the story you decide to tell.”

After earning an MSW at Fordham, Ms. Cahill initially worked as a social worker in southern CT and then served as an Executive Director of a family service agency. Her corporate experience was in management positions with a national healthcare company.

For a decade while living in Charlotte, North Carolina, the setting for Five Star Fraud, she blended her education and social service background teaching children on a hospital psychiatric unit.  Ms. Cahill's writing includes fiction and documenting life stories of family ancestors; particularly the colorful characters in the tree.