The Story Behind "Bus Trip to Italy"

My new book was inspired by four nuns that taught me in grade school back in the 70’s at a place called St. John the Baptist. The church and school are in Manyaunk, PA which is a section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The gothic church remains a wondrous sight when you’re driving on route 76 either leaving or entering Philadelphia from the west. It is also illuminated at night and a must see.

They seemed larger than life and we were taught to always provide the obligatory “Good afternoon sister,” when we happened by any of them in the hall or schoolyard. The sisters had different personalities but were all larger than life in their own way. For the new book Bus Trip to Italy, I projected the personalities of the four nuns to forty years in the future as the story in the book occurs in the modern day when three of the four are living in a retirement community for nuns.