Theresa Dodaro: The Tin Box Secret
Theresa Dodaro, author of Young Adult and Women’s Historical Fiction
October 20, 1958, was not just any old day in Baldwin, NY. It was the day, Theresa Dodaro was born and the city became the place where she published her first novel.
History and the “Once upon a time” story that it tells has significant interest for the author of the Tin Box Secret trilogy who spends time researching her family’s history as far back as the 1600s. Not only does she enjoy discovering her family’s heritage, she’s also traced her husband’s family lineage and has helped others discover their family roots. “I especially enjoy uncovering the secrets and the untold stories. I’ve even been able to help some adoptees find their biological families,” she says.
Dodaro holds a
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Dodaro: The Tin Box Secret was a cathartic re-working of my own childhood. It brings back memories for those who grew up in the late 60s and early 70s and introduces others to a time of great change in our society. The main characters are Julie, age 14 and her sister, Angie age 9.
Julie and her friends, Heather, and Petra find a Tin Box in a treehouse that once belonged to Petra’s mother, Lydia. Lydia’s family left Baldwin in 1943 after the untimely death of her mother, Raven. Raven may have died by suicide or it may have been something more sinister. After Raven’s death, Lydia received letters from her grandmother, Charlotte, telling her about a family secret and a forbidden love affair from 1912 set against the building of the “last of the handmade dams,” the Ashokan Reservoir in upstate NY. Built to supply a growing NYC with drinking water. Now in 1968, the girls discover the tin box and read the letters. When they realize there might still be a danger for Petra’s family now that they have returned to Baldwin, they set out to find some answers. In addition, they are dealing with coming of age, friendships, first loves, and dysfunctional families. Julie falls in love with
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